At the National Railway Museum

Stanier's mighty Princess Coronation class Pacific 6229 "Duchess of Hamilton" looks simply stunning restored to its original streamlined condition. Sadly it is no longer a runner. 29/10/2010

Not long after the National Railway Museum opened its doors for the day and the Great Hall is quiet and virtually empty. The restoration in this guise was carried out by the staff at Tyseley.

The NRM claimed one of the prototype HST powercars when BR no longer had a use for them. 41001 stands in the former diesel depot shed, now part of the museum. The prototype full set was numbered 252001, the production powercars were numbered 43xxx and the sets were 253 for Western Region and 254 for Eastern Region.

The first of the class 31 locos built by Brush was originally numbered D5500 but under the TOPS renumbering scheme it became 31018.

On the main turntable is former North Eastern Railway class X1 2-2-4T loco No66 Aerolite. It was built at Gateshead Works in 1869 to a design by Edward Fletcher and was withdrawn in 1933.

The workshop area of the museum is a working area where the public can look down on activities. Inside "The Works" is the tender from 4472 "Flying Scotsman", D8000 the doyen of the English Electric type 1 class 20 locos. Also present is Deltic 550012 Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and Western class 52 D1023 Western Fusilier.

A closer look at 55002 and both roof panels are off and the Napier Deltic powerplants are receiving attention.

Over in the Peter Allen Building which was the former goods shed, ex North Eastern Railway class M1 4-4-0 No 1621 has its footplate accessible for visits. The loco was built Gateshead Works in 1893 to a William Worsdell design and was withdrawn in 1945 as an LNER class D17.

One of the once numerous M7 class of 0-4-4T locos built by the LSWR and designed by Dugald Drummond. No 245 was built at Nine Elms, London in 1897 and withdrawn in 1962.

This elegant 4-2-2 loco is No 673 and is a Spinner class. Designed by Samuel Johnson for the Midland Railway, it was built at Derby Works in 1897 and withdrawn in 1923.

The ubiquitous LMS 4-6-0 class 5, known as Black Five. No 5000 is first of a class of 842 examples. This loco was built at Crewe and designed by William Stanier, being turned out in 1935 and withdrawn for preservation in 1967.

This delightful little 0-4-0 No 3 is called "Copperknob" and was built as early as 1846 by Bury, Curtis and Kennedy of Liverpool, it was designed by Edward Bury. It operated with The Furness Railway and they withdrew it in 1900 and displayed it at Barrow in Furness station.

Unrebuilt Battle of Britain class light pacific 34051 is named "Winston Churchill". It was designed by OVS Bulleid and introduced in 1945 and built by the Southern Railway at their Brighton Works. The loco was withdrawn in 1966 and was used to haul Sir Winston Churchill's funeral train on 30th January 1965. As it stands here on this day, the loco is in as withdrawn condition complete with the original paintwork, it has never been cosmetically restored.

Outside is former Royal Train locomotive 47798 "Prince William". When EWS, who operated the Royal Train, replaced the class 47's with new class 67 locos, they offered 47798 to the museum in full working order. The loco remains (in 2010) mainline approved.

Also a runner but not on the mainline is D6700, the first of the popular class 37 type 3 locos. It was turned out of English Electric's Vulcan Foundry in 1961.

A replica of a first class coach of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

This is an electric motor open 3rd brake vehicle No 28249. It was built in 1915 by the Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage, Wagon and Finance Company for the London and North Western Railway for use on the North London Line.

Vehicle S11179S is an electric motor open 3rd brake from a 4-COR set No 3131 built by the Southern Railway in 1937. 29/10/2010

Outside the NRM in the sidings used for mainline locos, a remarkable loco greet the eye. Stanier designed three cylinder 4-6-0 class 5XP Jubilee No 45699 "Galatea" stands between tours. This loco is a remarkable survivor as it was a Barry wreck which had a driving wheel cut through when it derails during shunting at Barry Island Scrapyard in the 1970's. 24/9/2017

The loco was exhumed from Barry in April 1980 as a source of spare parts for sister Jubilee No 45690 "Leander". It was moved around several preservation sites over the following 22 years before being bought by David Smith of West Coast Railways. New wheels were cast to replace the destroyed one and it returned to steam in April 2013.

Inside the Great Hall and Patrick Stirling's 4-2-2 masterpiece No1 takes pride of place on the turntable. The 1870 vintage loco was restored to working order in the 1980's. The driving wheels are a whopping 8 foot 1 inch in diameter.

A replica of Stephenson's Rocket being in sectioned to show the internal design. The multiple tube boiler was a revolution and never seen before and every boiler since has used this design.

4003 "Lode Star" is the sole surviving example of G J Churchward's successful class 4000 Star 4-6-0. 73 examples were built at Swindon Works and this one was withdrawn in 1951 having run just over 2 million miles.

Little class X1 No 66 "Aerolite" sits on one of the former radiating roads.

OVS Bulleid's austerity 1942 design of 0-6-0 class Q1, the number is C1. The unusual numbering system is American and the "C" denotes three driving axles. These odd looking locos were designed for freight use only. This loco used to run on the Bluebell Railway.

Industrial 0-4-0ST locomotive "Bauxite No 2", built by Black, Hawthorn & Co Ltd, 1874, is an industrial saddle tank locomotive which worked as a factory shunter for International Aluminium Co. Ltd. It worked until 1974 and was saved by George Cohen scrap merchant.They donated it to the North Eastern Society of Engineering Historians. It became part of the National Collection in 1953 and has been preserved at the Museum but not restored. It looks now how it did when at work.

In 1933 the Great Western Railway introduced a fleet of diesel railcars, totalling 38 in all. This example was built by Park Royal in 1934 and by 1962 all had been withdrawn.

I should've taken a photo of the information panel for this coach but I did not and as a result I have no details about it.