1970 Steam?

[Nick L. Plaite]

I live in the USA. When I was 11 years old my family went on holiday to the UK. We took a train from London to Glasgow. I remember at least part of the trip involving a steam locomotive. I recently became interested in steam locomotives after going on an excursion in Ohio that used a beautiful Berkshire 2-8-4 locomotive. In looking online I find UK steam up to 1968 only. (Black 5s) Could my memory have been wrong, or was steam still used on some lines or in temporary service for a couple of more years?

 

[EM2]

I'm afraid your memory is playing tricks.
The last steam-hauled service on British Rail was on the 11th August 1968, the Fifteen-Guinea Special which ran from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Victoria via Carlisle and back, hauled (as you say) by a Black 5 and a Britannia on the outward leg, and two Black 5s on the return.
Steam was banned on the mainline the very next day (the only exception being Flying Scotsman, but this loco was being exhibited across North America at the time) until October 1971, and even then this was only for charter or special trains.

 

[Nick L. Plaite]

I knew someone on this forum would know the answer. I checked with my older sister and she confirmed that it was summer of 1970, so my memory of this must be wrong. I blame it on jet lag and being only 11 years old. Oh well. Thank you for your response.

 

[Waldgrun]

Strange as it might seems you might have seen steam issuing from the Locomotive on the front of your train in 1970! As most trains at that time were steam heated, diesel loco had boilers fitted, electric heating was not standard at that time! If you can recall any more details of your visit/trip, it may be worth posting!

 

[EM2]

That's a very good point. And of course, diesels do emit big clouds of smoke!

 

[Nick L. Plaite]

The steam boiler idea is also a very good one. Our steam excursion this May took us from Rocky River Ohio to Bellevue Ohio round trip. The stop in Bellevue included a couple of hours at the Mad River and NKP railroad museum. I noticed in photos there that some of the diesel locomotives in the 50s and 60s had steam generators added to them for passenger train work. They were essentially freight diesels with two long tanks added to the roof. If those systems had to vent any steam at different parts of a journey, I might have seen that and assumed that it was a steam locomotive. However London, and the UK was quite fascinating to my 11 year old brain. I was seeing so many interesting things at the time, that I really can't be sure of what I saw on the train or in the stations in the amount of detail needed for the steam/no steam aspect.