Steam in the North West

When BR ran its "15 guinea Special" in August 1968 many believed that steam locomotives would quickly become a "thing of the past" and that future workings would be restricted to the heritage lines which had begun to appear. Initially that seemed to be the case with the only exception being the famed A3 Class Pacific 4-6-2 ''Flying Scotsman'' whose owner had signed a contract with BR that allowed the locomotive to operate beyond that date. Change came in 1971 when BR trialled the operation of ''King'' Class 4-6-0 6000 ''King George V'', then based at Bulmer''s Hereford site, on a tour of the UK which confirmed the value of steam operation as a valuable aspect of publicity which the railways of the day desperately needed.

Many locomotives operating on preserved lines had been bought with the hope of being able to operate on the main line at some future date and their owners began to use this success as a lever to further ease the restriction on steam locomotive usage on the national network. Over time BR ident