4287 x 2848 px | 36,3 x 24,1 cm | 14,3 x 9,5 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
28 novembre 2010
Ubicazione:
Main Street, Swithland, Leicestershire, England
Altre informazioni:
“The Great Marquess” is the sole survivor of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) K4 class, originally consisting of six small but powerful 2-6-0 ‘Moguls’, designed by Sir Nigel Gresley specifically for the difficult West Highland Line from Glasgow to Fort William and Mallaig, “The Great Marquess” itself being the second member of the class, entering traffic as LNER 3442 in July 1938 (although originally, but briefly, named “MacCailein Mor” – this name was later used on the fifth member of the class); it was subsequently renumbered 1994 in 1946, becoming 61994 under British Railways. The class were well adapted to the challenging nature of some parts of the West Highland line, but not to the flatter sections, and from the late 1940s they were increasingly displaced by newer locomotives, ending their days in 1961 in Fife. The last to be withdrawn, 61994 was saved by Viscount Garnock (later 15th Earl of Lindsay) and in recent years has worked main line steam specials over the line it was designed for, although it is seen here crossing Swithland Viaduct on the Great Central Railway. The viaduct carried the Great Central Main Line, constructed in the 1890s, over Swithland Reservoir, which was being built at the same time. The line, opened to goods in 1898 and passengers in 1899, closed as a through route in 1966 and completely on the withdrawal of the remaining passenger services in May 1969, but the section southwards from Loughborough was rescued for use as a steam railway by what was then the Main Line Steam Trust, regular weekend services over the section between Quorn & Woodhouse and Rothley, including Swithland Viaduct, resuming in 1976. The scenic highlight of the preserved line, it was over this section that the writer D. H. Lawrence once proposed to Jessie Chambers, the model for ‘Miriam’ in “Sons and Lovers”.
