During the two hours between the arriving steam trains shown over the last two days, I had a walk to the National Railway Museum - not to see the exhibits on display, but to walk to the bottom of the car park and have a look what was behind the museum building.
The locomotive shown in this shot ('Sir Nigel Gresley') came to York in 2016 when it was due for an overhaul after 10 years of service. It was moved into the museum workshops and volunteers began work on it. It was expected to take around three years to complete, but was taking longer, when along came Covid-19 and the museum was completely closed and no work could be done.
In the meantime, the museum has plans for a massive redevelopment. On of the first parts to be transformed was planned to be the transformation of the workshops into a new display area. Several extensions were given to allow work on Sir Nigel Gresley to be completed, but eventually the volunteers were asked to remove it from the site to allow work on the building to commence. Sir Nigel Gresley is to be moved to Crewe for work to be completed there.
Normally in a rather splendid blue livery, Sir Nigel Gresley has been given a coat of protective black paint ready for the journey. In some respects the black paint restores it to the colour scheme that it would have carried during the Second World War.
Most of the major work has been completed. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can see this graceful locomotive back at work.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
One of the volunteers who has been involved in the preparation of the locomotive for its move to Crewe can be seen climbing down from the locomotive cab (extreme right).
fav
Thank you all for your lovely comments and favs, they are very much appreciated.
One of the volunteers who has been involved in the preparation of the locomotive for its move to Crewe can be seen climbing down from the locomotive cab (extreme right).
Ian
Thank you Bri - it was a bit of a struggle taking it over the fence at the back of the museum!
Ian
Thank you Vesna. It has now been moved from York to Crewe so it's overhaul can be completed.
Ian