Press Office
Preparations for swansong celebration on track
Preparations for the National Railway Museum’s (NRM) 40 year anniversary celebration of the end of mainline steam, ‘1968 and all that’, are well on track in the final weeks before the 9-day extravaganza.(May 24th - June 1)
The star of the show, No 70013 Oliver Cromwell, one of the locomotives that hauled the last public main line service on August 11 1968, is nearing the end of a 4 year restoration programme at Loughborough’s Great Central Railway workshop.
Staff and volunteers have just completed one of the vital final stages of restoration with the boiler lift. All that remains is the final assembly and steam tests to ensure the historic loco is ready for her star appearance at the NRM’s May bank holiday event.
Staff at the NRM are also busy collating responses to the museum’s ‘memories of steam’ appeal, which has seen responses flood in from enthusiasts across the UK, especially from Yorkshire where the museum is based and Lancashire, the final stronghold of steam in the late sixties
Event organiser Matt Thompson said:
“We are trying to put the end of steam in historical context with the line-up for this 9-day event. Visitors can enjoy steam train rides, a real ale bar and cab access to the locomotives that were involved in the end of steam in different areas of the UK. Our team of explainers and volunteers will man the footplates, explain the loco’s place in history and give the public a real idea of how things used to be before steam was swept away by the tide of progress. It will also be the first real opportunity for the public to see the newly restored Oliver Cromwell.” We are also excited that for this event we have designed a special web site that allows people to upload their own photographs of the period – a first for the NRM. The site only went on line a month ago and we have already gathered over 400 images.”
Also telling the story of the last curtain call for steam will be the NRM’s theatre group Platform 4, who will give live performances from the point of view of the men that worked at the mighty engine sheds of Lostock Hall and Lower Darwen – the last bastions of UK steam in 1968.
The museum is still hoping to receive more stories about the end of steam from across the UK including Scotland. Those willing to share their unique and special tale about steam’s past should email pressoffice@nrm.org.uk or write to Steam Memories, Press Office, National Railway Museum, Leeman Road York YO26 4XJ
April 2008