In the early 1920s, a pair of elderly Midland Railway Kirtley 0-6-0s Nos. 2421 (pilot) and 2820 (train) emerge with an up coal train from the southern portal of Knighton Tunnel south of Leicester station. Unusually they are on the fast lines, the slow lines are in the background and used a seperate tunnel bore. The tracks curving away in the foreground are the Burton lines which at this time were acessed via a triangle. The significance of the 'R' over the left hand buffer is not known.

The Midland's locomotive policy of double-heading persisted long into the LMS era and would only be eliminated as more powerful locomotives were introduced in the Stanier regime. 2421 was built by Robert Stephenson & Co. in 1864 and 2820 by Vulcan Foundry in 1873. They were withdrawn in August 1931 and sometime in 1930 respectively.

It was Henry L Salmon who took this photo of the magnificent scene at Knighton Junction. He took several here and was active over the same wide area as was W Leslie Good. Both lived in or near Birmingham.

© Steve Armitage Archive