Unidentified ex-LMS Stanier '8F' class 2-8-0.
Tuesday 2nd January 1968 was memorable. Even though it was a bitterly cold day, I ventured down to Healey Mills Marshalling Yard, near Horbury in the Calder Valley in the vain hope of seeing steam. I hadn't seen any for some weeks now, but today as the light faded, came the sound I had hoped to hear. This westbound freight behind a filthy '8F' was to be the last time I saw Calder Valley steam in the 1960s. I realised that the countless happy 'spotting' hours of my childhood had now passed forever. A signal box on the abandoned ex-MR route to Dewsbury from Royston is seen on the skyline.

© Steve Armitage