After a 15 month gap, I'm back at Loughborough for a photo charter.  The loco?  A Black 5 - and not just any Black 5 - a Kingmoor Black Five. 

In 1967 as a twelve year old I looked down in awe from Etterby Bridge at the lines of workstained locomotives lined up outside Kingmoor shed.  Black 5s, 8Fs, Britannas and 9Fs dominated. 

We spent a whole afternoon wandering around the shed gathering numbers.  Kingmoor closed to steam some months later at the end of 1967.  It left a memory with me that's remained ever since.

‘Oliver Cromwell’ is a personal favourite.

I remember it from living in Carlisle in 1967 as a Kingmoor loco, and then of course it achieved stardom on 11 August 1968 hauling the famous ‘15 Guinea Special’.

I was there, and I’ve still got the battered Kodachrome slide!

Through the lens - an alternative view

Published in 'Steam Railway' magazine, May 2004 edition