Record-breaking steam train thrills big crowd at Melton station

The LNER A4 Pacific No 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, resplendent in a dark blue British Railways livery, was passing through Melton en route to spending Easter working at the Nene Valley Railway at Wansford, near Peterborough.

This train achieved notoriety in 1959 when it achieved 112mph, a speed record for post-war steam engines in this country.

Local railway enthusiast, Paul Davies, who took this superb photo, told the Melton Times: “Word had obviously got out about it passing through Melton as just before 1pm, even though it was heavy drizzle, there was a reasonable amount of people of all ages, possibly into three figures, to watch it speed past with its chime whistle being blown to acknowledge those that had come to watch.”

The A4 class was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley for the London and North Eastern Railway and includes in its class 4468 Mallard, which in 1938 set the world speed record of 126mph for a steam locomotive and can be seen at the National Railway Museum at York.

A total of 35 locomotives were built between 1935 and 39 and although one was destroyed by a bomb in 1942 the others ran until the last examples were phased out in 1966.

They were designed to haul express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line between Kings Cross and Edinburgh via York and Newcastle and were streamlined to achieve high speed. Six have been preserved, but only Sir Nigel Gresley is operational.