‘Blue Peter’ is the last remaining LNER Class A2 Pacific, and was one of the most powerful express passenger locomotives in the UK. She was one of 14 Class A2s designed by Arthur Peppercorn, and entered service in 1948 just weeks after the amalgamation of the Big Four railway companies into the newly nationalised British Railways. By the late 1960s her owners formed a new society to support the loco, whose president was none other than the author of the Thomas the Tank Engine books, the Rev. Wilbert Awdry! Since her withdrawal in 2002 ‘Blue Peter’ has been on public display, firstly at Darlington Railway Museum, latterly at the Barrow Hill Roundhouse in Derbyshire. Cosmetically restored and lovingly looked after in her stunning original BR Apple Green livery, she has remained a popular attraction.

In October 2014 the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust purchased ‘Blue Peter’ with the intention of returning her to steam for future generations to experience, and her overhaul to mainline condition has now begun at Crewe.

Photo by: Andrew Southwell