A couple of years ago we gave a copy of 4c to the Great Central Railway to help them manage their locomotive and rolling stock restoration projects.

The last steam engine to run on British Rail mainline was 70013 Oliver Cromwell. Its last trip was on 11th August 1968 (the ‘Fifteen Guinea Special’) and the plan was to have it running again in time for its 40th Anniversary.

I just did a Google search and found this blog entry on the restored Oliver’s first run under his own steam.

This weekend I was listening to Broadcasting House on Radio 4 and heard the sound of a steam loco leaving Liverpool Station – it HAD to be Oliver! I felt strangely proud that we had made at least a small contribution to this bit of railway history.

PS One of the GCR people just sent me this link to the BBC report on the commemorative run from Liverpool to Carlisle on 10th August. There’s also a YouTube video of the arrival at Manchester Victoria.