Jubilee

After his retirement in 1962 my grandfather spent twenty years living near the small town of Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria. From the sink in the kitchen - when you were washing up after tea - you might see trains passing in the distance on the Settle - Carlisle line.

More about that lovely railway another time, but one of my favourite classes along the route back then was the LMS 'Jubilees'. Introduced in the 1930's as a lighter express locomotive they survived right until the end of main line steam in Britain and some still operate on preserved railways.

Here's a picture of 45589 'Gwailor' hurrying down from Blea Moor Tunnel to Ribblehead. It was taken in April 1963 and it looks like an 'all stations' train - maybe I was even aboard as I'd quite often travel to the Ingleborough area using this service. Incredible to think that even as recently as the 1960's this was 'just an ordinary train'.

The LMS designed some very classy 4-6-0's but maybe the Jubilees were the neatest. If you want so see some more pictures take a look at Simon Robinson's excellent site here.