Ex-LNER Thompson 'B1' class 4-6-0 No. 61095. Built by NBL of Glasgow in Nov. 1946 as LNER No. 1095 and withdrawn in Dec. 1963. Northampton Castle Station was not accustomed to visiting ex-LNER locomotives allocated at Peterborough Spital Bridge - or anywhere else for that matter. Much less one fitted with a self-weighing tender! Seemingly a BR (or late LMS & LNER) introduction, SWTs were designed to measure coal consumption. It comprised a coal bunker suspended on pivots that were fixed during operation but could be released for weighing the contents. BR had at least four and 'Black 5s'. 'K1s' and 'B1s' were the recipients. If indeed they produced any worthwhile conclusions it remains unknown!

© Les Hanson-David Hanson Archive