The Gresley A4 Pacifics are arguably one of themost famous of all steam locomotive classes. Thefame arises for a number of reasons. Firstly theclassic streamlined shape together with thematching streamlined carriages caused asensation when first seen. No.2509 “Silver Link”,a three cylinder locomotive with Gresley’sconjugated valve gear, appeared in 1935 and isstill seen as modern and its shape remains similarto current and future locomotives. Secondly theclass epitomises the glamour of the 1930s, withits well balanced design and the subtlety of itssweeping curves giving an impression of speedand power. This was coupled to the luxury of itspurpose built carriages. It was a time when thevarious railways struggled to gain prestige andcustomers after the Great Depression. And, ofcourse, the class still contains the holder of theworld speed record for steam traction, No.4468

“Mallard”, which achieved the speed of 126mphwhile descending Stoke Bank in 1938.

The first A4 No.2509 “Silver Link” inauguratedthe Silver Jubilee service from King’s Cross toNewcastle, commemorating the Silver JubileeYear of King George V and Queen Mary, on 1st

October, 1935 and this quickly became a greatsuccess cutting the journey time to a remarkable

four hours. Such was the success of the SilverJubilee that in July, 1937 a new service wasextended to Edinburgh as the Coronation withonly one stop between the capital cities. A serviceto Leeds/Bradford, The West Riding Ltd, wasalso introduced in July, 1937. The A4s provedvery reliable and were well capable of haulingthe trains they were assigned to. They steamedvery well and were popular with footplate crewswho enjoyed a smooth ride in the cab. Thesuccess of the class led to a total of 35locomotives being built and the final batch of 31occupied the entire output of Doncaster Worksbetween December, 1936 and July, 1938.

Of course, the A4s are inextricably linked withthe quest for speed. In the 1930s the railwaysbegan to feel the competition from road and airtravel and had themselves to recover from thedepression. This competition was heightened byrivalries between the LMS on the West CoastMain Line and the LNER on the East Coast.Locomotive engineers were also conscious ofdevelopments overseas. So on the East CoastGresley introduced his streamlined A4s whileStanier on the West Coast introduced thestreamlined Duchess Pacifics. Initiallystreamlining was seen by many as a gimmick but

LNER A4 No.60009 “Union of SouthAfrica”A brief history by Dennis Wilcock

No.60009 “Union of South Africa” races under the wires at Overton on the East Coast Main Line, itsold stomping ground, on 27th October, 2012 while hauling The Hadrian Railtour from York. STEVEBOTTRILL

extensive wind tunnel testing by Gresley andothers at the National Physical Laboratoryshowed that streamlining gave progressivelysignificant gains, reducing the power required tomaintain a given speed, at speeds of over 60mph.

The competition in the 1930s was reminiscent ofthe late 19th Century Race to the North when theEast Coast had the Stirling Single pitted againstPrecedent Class locomotive “Hardwicke” on theWest Coast. In the 1930s a Press demonstrationrun for the impending Silver Jubilee servicehauled by No.2509 “Silver Link” touched112½mph on a run to Grantham on 27th

September, 1935. On the same run a speed of100mph was maintained for 43 milesdemonstrating the A4’s ability to provide longdistance high speed services. On 28th June, 1937Stanier’s Princess Coronation Class No.6220

“Coronation” set a new record of 114mphfamously racing into Crewe station and almostde-railing.

With these increasing speeds, braking distanceswere getting longer, and so methods to improvebraking were investigated. Gresley favoured thesystem produced by Westinghouse, and trialsbegan in 1938. On 3rd July 1938, a Westinghouseteam arrived for a braking trial to find that some

of the normal coaches had been removed andreplaced with the dynamometer car. Thelocomotive for the test was No.4468 “Mallard”.Only 4 months old, this A4 was the first to befitted with the Kylchap double blast pipe. Thedriver was J Duddington, who had been broughtdown from Doncaster and had a reputation forrunning trains hard when it was required.Duddington was joined by fireman T Bray andinspector J Jenkins. When the Westinghouse teamwere on board, they were told that they weregoing to attempt to break the speed record. TheDown journey consisted of conventional braketests. At Barkston, the Westinghouse team weregiven the option of taking a taxi to Peterborough- they all refused! The centre big bearing wasdrowned in cylinder oil, and the return journeycommenced. Grantham was passed at 24mph. ByStoke signalbox, the speed had reached 74½mphwith full regulator and 40% cut-off. At milepost94, 116mph was recorded along with themaximum drawbar power of 1800hp. 120mphwas achieved between milepost 92¾ and 89¾,and for a short distance of 306 yards, 125mphwas touched. A peak of 126mph was marked onthe dynamometer rolls, and this speed wasincluded in some unofficial reports. 126mph isalso the speed marked on the plaque BR mounted

In original silver livery and complete with wheel valances No.4488 “Union of South Africa” heads anexpress past Craigentinny, Edinburgh with a train of Gresley carriages. transporttreasury.co.uk

on “Mallard” in 1948. The record remains to thisday.

No.4488 “Union of South Africa”, now betterknown with its BR number 60009, was built atDoncaster in 1937 and was originally allocatedthe name “Osprey” but carried its new name whenoutshopped on 17th April, 1937. It carried itsoriginal name again in the 1980s and early’90swhen there was strong opposition to the apartheidregime in South Africa.

It was first allocated to Haymarket shed inEdinburgh, 64B, to operate the prestige highspeed services. As dieselisation took hold the A4swere allocated to less glamorous duties evenhauling freight trains on occasion. On 20th May,1962 No.60009 was transferred to AberdeenFerryhill, 61B. It was painted BR BrunswickGreen on 2nd October, 1962 a livery which it stillcarries. On 24th October 1964 it hauled the lastbooked steam hauled train from King’s Cross andwas finally withdrawn on 1st June, 1966.

A month after withdrawal she was purchased byJohn Cameron who still owns the locomotive. MrCameron was at one time reputed to be the largestsheep farmer in Europe farming 37,000 acres with

beef, sheep and arable pastures in eight units. Hehas been President of the National Farmers Unionof Scotland and is a Fellow of the RoyalAgricultural Society. He has been politicallyactive in Westminster and Brussels championingthe interests of the hill farmers in the lessfavoured areas of Scotland. He achieved greatsuccess with these efforts with advantageous EUSheepmeat and Less Favoured Area paymentswhich underpinned production in some ofScotland’s most difficult terrain. He was awardeda CBE for his services to farming. Now in hisseventies he has sold off five of his eight farmingunits and, with his wife Margaret, established theCameron Travel Scholarship Trust, setting aside£1M for the purpose. The trust is a charitableorganisation offering funding for young peoplekeen to pursue a career in agriculture or to go tofurther education with the knowledge ofagricultural practices in other countries. He isChairman of Governors at the Dollar Academy,a co-educational day and boarding school forpupils aged from 5 to 18, between the universitycities of Stirling and St Andrews.

He has been Chairman of Scotrail, a member ofthe British Railways Board from 1990 to 1996, anon-executive director of Stagecoach plc and a

director of South WestTrains. As well as owning

“Union of South Africa”he also own LNER K42-6-0 No.3442 “TheGreat Marquess”.

On withdrawal No.60009went to the erstwhile 1½mile Lochty PrivateRailway in Fife whichoperated from 1967 to1992. The railway waspart of a North BritishRailways branch which

Having left Edinburgh’sWaverley stationNo.4488 “Union ofSouth Africa” passesthrough Princes StreetGardens with anexpress bound forLondon. J A WHALEY/transporttreasury.co.uk

ran through part of John Cameron’s land andwhich he purchased when the line closed in 1965.Since then she has been to many private railwaysand operated many specials on the nationalnetwork.

It was in 1973 when No.60009 left the LochtyRailway to return to the main line. After a shortperiod in the goods shed at Kirkaldy she went toMarkinch goods shed which was to be its homeuntil 1990. She then spent a year at Thorntonbefore going back to Markinch. No.60009 leftScotland in 1994 and moved to Bridgnorth on theSevern Valley Railway having visited therepreviously in 1989. Whilst there No.60009operated several main line specials but did not domuch running on the SVR itself. In 2007 shemoved back to Fife, this time at ThorntonJunction shed, where it was much closer to thehome of its owner. While there she hauled partof the Great Britain railtour between Glasgow andInverness. After only a month at its new homeNo.60009 went south for the rest of 2007 workingtrains in England, particularly the ScarboroughSpa Express. In 2008 she was used on the GreatBritain II railtour hauling trains again to Inverness.She was also used on several Heart of Midlothian

tours on the East Coast Main Line. 2009 sawmore successful runs on the ECML, a ScottishRailway Preservation Society tour to Invernessand finally a couple of circuits on the Forth Circlevia Alloa. On 24th August, 2009 the locomotiveran south from Thornton to Crewe HeritageCentre with the intention of hauling a number oftours in England but she developed superheaterproblems and had to be withdrawn. In 2010 shewent to Pete Waterman’s LNWR at Crewe for acomprehensive overhaul. No.60009 returned tosteam in 2012 and hauled her first specials on 23rd

and 24th July. Since then she has been very activeon the main line and has returned to her oldhaunts on the East Coast Main Line. In the latterpart of 2012 No.60009 has been involved in theassembly of six A4s organised by the NationalRailway Museum.

The running of No.60009 “Union of South Africa”on the Great Central Railway will be a spectacleto behold and one that will be looked forward toby all railway enthusiasts. It is some time sincean A4 ran on the GCR so the arrival of No.60009has been eagerly awaited. The A4s were thepinnicle of express locomotive development bySir Nigel Gresley and this was fully demonstrated

No.60009 “Union of South Africa” crosses the backbone of Fife as it passes Lochmuir summit withthe 10am Edinburgh Waverley to Aberdeen express on 29th November 1952. W J VERDENANDERSON/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON

in the 1948 Locomotive Exchanges when, in theExpress Passenger category the A4 burned lesscoal per hour per drawbar horse power. The trialswere conducted between April and Septemberwith the express classes running between Euston

and Carlisle, King’s Cross andLeeds, Paddington and Plymouthand Waterloo and Exeter. TheKing, was resticted to the WRand ER routes because of tightclearences. The A4 had beaten

the LMS Duchess and Rebuilt Royal Scot, theWestern King and the Southern Mechant Navy.

It is fitting to see this one on the GCR’s doubletrack main line performing its express duties.

No.60009 observes the 60mph speed limit as it is about to dive into Penmanshiel tunnel with 9.32amGlasgow Queen Street to Kings Cross express on 13th June 1961. A rock fall in the tunnel on 17thMarch, 1979 killed two track workers and the East Coast Main Line was permanently diverted aroundthe blocked tunnel. H K HARMAN/RAIL ARCHIVE STEPHENSON

Now in British Railways daysand now numbered 60009

“Union of South Africa” runsthrough North Queensferry onits way to Edinburgh, via theForth Bridge, on 25th July,1959. The locomotive is in BRBrunswick Green livery whichit still carries to this day.Wheel valances have beenremoved to ease maintenance.J ROBERTSON/transporttreasury.co.uk