NER Q6 0-8-0 No 63354 on shed at Blaydon in c1955. I am not sure what the apparatus exiting from the handrail is for, is it a cable to operate the boiler blow down valve fitted in the lower part of the boiler, so that the sludge could be removed or part of the steam operated reversing gear mechanism?
Both have been suggested.


Photo: T.G. Hepburn / Rail Archive Stephenson