Streak!

Long before I discovered girls, beer, music and football I was besotted with Sir Nigel's finest creation - we all were.
Apart from the victim of the 1942 air-raid I saw them all but it was a close-run thing as they had vanished from the ECML before I'd reached my teens. The only cops I specifically remember were the final two. The first of these was at Doncaster, nothing much happening then a wall of sound and a flash of green - three zeros flanked by a pair of sixes and Sir Ralph Wedgwood could be underlined! Then in 1961 my parents took us on our first visit to London. As mentioned earlier, money was tight in those days for most people so we had to go by coach. More about this holiday later, but on the way back my brother and I were staring aimlessly out of the window when our parents interrupted to notify us of a train ahead. By sheer good fortune 60024 Kingfisher crossed our path via an overbridge and we went nuts, to the amazement of the rest of the occupants. I never saw either of them again but I was only ten years old and had completed the class.

One thing that puzzled us was that some streaks always seemed to be passing through York - 60034 LordFaringdon springs to mind - while others were seldom seen. My favourite was 60021 Wild Swan - it struck me as the perfect name for an A4 - but wasn't often to be seen in York. Mallard was a regular visitor but we never tired of admiring the 126 mph commemorative plate, and basking in the reflected glory of a Yorkshire-built engine holding the world record on our line. 60007 was a big favourite too, bearing the name of our hero.

All too soon these magnificent engines were banished to Scotland and the significance of that strange blue machine I'd seen at Doncaster a couple of years earlier was explained. I liked Deltics too, but I felt I'd lost a lot more than I'd gained. The photo shows 60009 Union of South Africa passing through York on the RCTS-SLS Jubilee Requiem tour of October 24th 1964.

Steam Power at York Station, 1964