Loose_Grip/Pete's photos

LNER Thompson B1 4-6-0 61264 on the TPO special at the Winter Steam Gala. The engine is at Rothley Brook after the TPO coaches seen in distance had been pulled back into the station by another engine. This was the first time I had fired the Mail train & it was a real treat. We are blowing off because I had built a huge fire for the race to Quorn & the mail bag pick-up/drop-off & then we just cruised to Rothley. In fact I didn't really need such a big fire as long as the grate was covered. Built in 1947 & withdrawn in 1965 it survived as a Deparmental Loco until 1968 and was sent for scrap to Woodham's in Barry, the only LNER engine to go there. 61264 was restored on the GCR but has moved on & has spent many years on the main line on, among others, Maillaig-Fort William trains on the West Highland Line in Scotland.

Great Central Railway. In Loughborough shed yard prior to firing Pete Waterman's Great Western Railway 2-6-2 Small Prairie 5553 on 7th April 2004. This was the last steam engine to leave Barry scrap yard & was on short term loan to the GCR to cover an engine shortage. This was the only time I fired this engine but it was a dream to work because it was just out of the works, steamed on nothing & the bunker was still filled with coal from somewhere else. This coal burned without clouds of black smoke and didn't clinker unlike the junk we were using at the time. On the left is the boiler from 30777 Sir Lamiel & on the right that anaemic flesh coloured vehicle is the steam crane. It is currently under restoration again (2007) & will be painted a more railway-like black when finished. I recently spent a couple of days undercoating the jib.

GCR LMS Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48305. My first turn on this engine & I am cleaning out the fire prior to raising steam - the wheelbarrow is for the clinker which has to be paddled out with a long shovel as the engine does not have a rocking grate . LNER O4 63601 behind is off shed first to pull the first train of the day

GCR Stanier Black 5 4-6-0 45305 Loughborough Station. I was firing during the summer Steam Gala & we are waiting in platform 2 to run round our train in the station.

Bulleid Pacific West Country 34027 Taw Valley crosses over from shed road 2 to road 1 prior to backing down to take water. Its stock waits in Platform 1 behind in Loughborough Central station. The cold morning air is filled with the engine's exhaust giving the scene a steamy atmosphere.

Carnforth station & Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48151 prepares to depart with a steam special for the Cumbrian Coast on 21st April 2001, The classic b/w 1940s film Brief Encounter was based on a chance meeting in the refreshment room on Carnforth station & filming took place there. After many years of neglect this has reopened as a tea room not surprisingly called Brief Encounter.

GCR Bowstring railway bridge Leicester 2001. It's not seen a train since 1969 & may be demolished in 2007 - WAS demolished in 2009. It strides confidently across the canalised River Soar and the road but the blue-brick viaduct that carried it into Leicester Central station has been truncated just past the tree growing from its foundations. The Pecks building is on the skyline far right.

GCR Loughborough USATC 2-8-0 S160 5197 in steam on shed. It was on loan from the Churnet Valley Railway for the summer. From early 1943 up until D-Day in 1944 many S160s, although not 5197, worked on the LNER and some were shedded at Woodford Halse so would have hauled freight trains through Loughborough. No. 5197 was built in 1945 by Lima & was originally shipped from the US to China in 1945. It was purchased from the Chinese coal industry and imported into the UK in November 1995. I was still a cleaner when I fired this beast in 2003 but it was an interesting experience. It has excellent injectors & the mechanism is very easy. First a slight pull to get the water flowing and then a longer pull for the steam. Picked up first time everytime - none of the messing about with the water valve you tend to get with most of the UK locos. The firebox is pretty wide & needs a good back but the butterfly firehole doors give you plenty of space to swing - essential for a novice fireman! I never got a chance to prepare/dispose of it but that smokebox door looks very fiddly although I expect the firebox will have a rocking grate.

My 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500 AWK334T sports car