The twenty huge ex-Great Central Railway Robinson '1B' (LNER 'L3') 2-6-4 Tanks were not (in my opinion) one of John Robinson's more elegant designs! They were however the first 2-6-4 Tanks to be used in Britain. This February 1954 scene of 69052 doing a spot of shunting with a 'not in common use' van attached, is on the Winnington branch at Northwich in Cheshire. 69052 would not see out the year when withdrawn in August 1954.

© Ken Widd. Steve Armitage Collection