Poppy Line to Welcome Two Visiting Mainline Locomotives For Fiftieth Finale

The North Norfolk Railway is set to round off its 50th Anniversary season in style with a nine-day Fiftieth Finale celebration from 25 October to 2 November. Celebrity mainline express steam locomotive 70000 “Britannia” is set to work trains on each of the nine days offering passengers the chance to ride behind the engine that once regularly hauled “The Norfolkman” and “The East Anglian” named trains between London and Norwich.

The Poppy Line has announced today (23 September) that Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 November will also feature D9000 “Royal Scots Grey” one the few surviving “Deltics” – a powerful type of diesel locomotive built to speed up services from London to Edinburgh in the 1960s. D9000 dates from 1961 and at the time was the World’s most powerful diesel locomotive.

Both visiting locomotives are usually based at Crewe and work a very limited number of special charters on the mainline and rarely visit heritage railways, so their appearance at the Fiftieth Finale event will be an unusual opportunity for the public to ride behind them.

North Norfolk Railway General Manager, Graham Hukins, commented “We’re delighted to have “Britannia” and “Royal Scots Grey” visiting  for the culmination of our Golden Anniversary year. We’ve spent the season celebrating the preservation pioneers that reopened the line in 1975 and all the achievements since, so having two mainline engines that were both pioneers of their type is a fantastic way to round off the year.

“Both engines have a real Eastern Region pedigree and it is hard to imagine that they were built just a decade apart. The enthusiasm, passion and following they sparked in the 1950s and ’60s was crucial to the formation of the heritage railway movement so it’s wonderful that they can be part of our 50th Anniversary festivities” he added.

Graham also thanked the locomotives’ operators, Locomotive Services, and the Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust (the owners of “Britannia”) for allowing the two iconic locomotives to visit.

Both types of engine hold a very special place in the history of Britain’s railways: the Britannia-class of locomotives were the brainchild of R A Riddles and aimed principally to improve the performance of express locomotives. Main focuses were on weight-saving measures, but also on the standardisation of steam locomotive design which was hoped to reduce labour requirements and also maintenance costs. A total of 55 Britannia-class locomotives were built at Crewe Works, of which 70000 “Britannia” was the first, entering service in 1951.

D9000 was the first of 22 “Deltics” produced as part of the modernisation programme that saw diesels take over duties from their steam predecessors. The mainstay of their duties were initially the Anglo-Scottish expresses on the East Coast Main Line where they regularly worked schedules that took full advantage of their 100mph top speed.

The Fiftieth Finale will be the last event of the North Norfolk Railway’s main season – advance booking is strongly recommended and passengers doing so receive a generous 15% discount on their fares. Following this week, the line will end the year with its popular season services, the Norfolk Lights Express, Santa Specials and Mince Pie Specials – full details can be found on the website www.nnrailway.co.uk.