On a fine sunny day in the summer of 1955, a northbound express bursts out of Stoke tunnel with one of the original quartet of A4s in charge. No 60015 ‘Quicksilver’ entered LNER service in 1935 and remained throughout its career allocated to sheds no further north than Grantham. It suffered a relatively early withdrawal (from Kings Cross) in April 1963, -by this time fitted with a double chimney which it had acquired in August 1957. Visible at the tunnel mouth is the rarely seen nameboard which stated the length of the tunnel to be 880 yards, but the text has been obliterated by years of grime and is no longer visible. The tunnel was situated almost exactly 100 miles from Kings Cross.

© David P Williams Archive / Rail-Online Original photograph by Les Perrin.