71000 'Duke of Gloucester' passing Didcot
Introduction
The photograph on this page of 71000 'Duke of Gloucester' passing Didcot by Bob Walters as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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71000 'Duke of Gloucester' passing Didcot
Image: © Bob Walters Taken: 16 Jun 2012
BR Standard 8P pacific No. 71000 'Duke of Gloucester' passing Didcot with a 'Cathedrals Express' raitour from Southend to Gloucester on 16th June 2012. This locomotive was the only one of its type built by BR to its Standard design in 1954 as the possible forerunner of a modern fleet of express steam engines. No further examples were built as BR decided that the future lay in diesel and electric traction. It had a short service life of only 8 years before withdrawal in 1962. It was saved from the scrapyard in 1974 and over the next 13 years it was rebuilt and improved as has been used on the mainline since then. It is currently being overhauled again and should be back in steam in the near future.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.613273
Longitude
-1.249975