Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Sacre '23' class 0-6-0 No. 246. Built by Beyer, Peacock & Co. of Manchester in July 1867 and withdrawn in October 1910 as GCR No. 321B.

The turntable at Hayfield in Derbyshire is the setting for this top-notch portrait of 246 in the 1880s. Charles Reboul Sacre (1831-1889) was a gifted engineer and his locomotives were not only elegant but highly regarded and successful in the context of their times. Sadly, when one of his 4-4-0s suffered a crank axle failure at Penistone in July 1884 Sacre blamed himself. Even though the Inquiry Inspector's report concluded that the accident "could not have been foreseen or prevented" it preyed on Sacre's mind and he took his own life in 1889.

© Steve Armitage Collection