Calder Valley main line: westbound mineral approaching Healey Mills Yard, 1966

Image: © Ben Brooksbank Taken: 29 Jul 1966

View eastward from the Storrs Hill Road bridge - see Image The locomotive is ex-WD 2-8-0 No. 90451, built 1944 at the Vulcan Foundry as WD No. 8633 (later 78633). It was first stored at Melbourne (Derbyshire) and - unlike the majority of these 'Austerities' - it was not used in Britain during the War. It was shipped (as No. 78633) to Europe in late 1944 and employed, together with 930 other WD 2-8-0s - not to mention the US Army 2-8-0s, to operate military and civilian traffic in liberated France, Belgium and Holland, until the end of hostilities in May 1945 and most of them until the end of 1946. No. 78633 was one of 222 loaned by the British Army to the US Army, 2/45 - 8/45. It was one of the earlier to be repatriated (12/45), becoming No. 3130 on the LNER and allocated to Newport (Tees-side); after Nationalization and its renumbering, as No. 90451 it remained on the NE Region until withdrawn in 12/66.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0