Midland Railway Johnson '7ft. 4in. Spinner' class 4-2-2 No. 1856. Built at Derby in August 1889 and withdrawn in November 1921 as MR No. 612.

The station yard at St. Pancras was a favourite location for 'formal' portraits of Midland Railway locomotives. Perhaps the most beautiful gasholders ever engineered were a strangely appropriate backdrop! An immaculate Samuel Johnson 'Spinner' No. 1856 sits elegantly alongside an oddly sited advertisement for Nestle Milk!

© Steve Armitage Collection