Rail Transport

The British Rail Class 55 is a class of diesel locomotive built in 1961 and 1962 by English Electric. They were designed for the high-speed express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London King's Cross and Edinburgh. They gained the name "Deltic" from the prototype locomotive, British Railways DP1 DELTIC (the running number DP1 was never carried), which in turn was named after its Napier Deltic power units. Twenty-two locomotives were built, which dominated express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML), particularly London – Leeds and London – Edinburgh services, until 1978 when InterCity 125 'High Speed Trains' were introduced. 1978–81 saw them gradually relegated to semi-fast or newspaper–parcel–sleeper services along the ECML (destinations including Cambridge, Cleethorpes, Harrogate, Hull, Scarborough and Aberdeen) plus occasional forays 'offline' – York - Liverpool Lime Street semi-fast and Edinburgh - Carlisle via Newcastle stoppers. The fleet was withdrawn from service between January 1980 and December 1981. Three locomotives were retained for a few days, until 2 January 1982, to work the farewell special, all being withdrawn immediately on arrival back at York. Six locomotives entered preservation during 1982 and 1983, one by the National Railway Museum, two by the Deltic Preservation Society, two by the Deltic 9000 Fund and one privately owned. Two cabs were also privately purchased.

The British Rail Class 40 is a type of British railway diesel locomotive. Built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962, and eventually numbering 200, they were for a time the pride of the British Rail early diesel fleet. Despite their initial success, by the time the last examples were entering service they were already being replaced on some top-link duties by more powerful locomotives. As they were slowly relegated from express passenger uses, the type found work on secondary passenger and freight services where they worked for many years, the final locomotives being retired from regular service in 1985.

Southern Railway 777 Sir Lamiel is an N15 “King Arthur” class 4-6-0 steam locomotive built for the Southern Railway by the North British Locomotive Company in June 1925, and withdrawn from service in October 1961. The locomotive is named after a fictional minor Knight of the Round Table named Lamiel of Cardiff. Lamiel is mentioned in Book XIX of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, where it is said he was "a great lover". Sir Lamiel is now preserved and is part of the National Collection, under the care of the 5305 Locomotive Association, and is based at the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire. The loco is now running regular passenger services on the preserved section of the Great Central Railway, where it is based. It appeared (as a Great Western engine) in the ITV crime drama series Agatha Christie's Poirot. Series 3 episodes: The Plymouth Express and The Double Clue broadcast in 1991. In 1995 it featured in the BBC television play Cruel Train, an adaptation of the novel La Bête Humaine telling a tale of a murderous engine driver. Following repair work at Tyseley and Loughborough in October 2012 emerged in Southern Railway malachite livery as 777 for the first time having previously carried Southern Railway olive green as 777 and in British Railways Brunswick green as 30777 in preservation and at the GCR Autumn gala ran and at some stages double headed with fellow Maunsell and malachite engine SR V Schools class 925 Cheltenham.