Duke of Gloucester – 71000 Dvd

The very last Pacific locomotive to be built in Britain, Duke of Gloucester is literally a one-off locomotive.

Constructed at Crewe Works in 1954, No.71000 Duke of Gloucester was the last Pacific locomotive built for the nationalised British Railways, the sole Standard Class 8P, the engine was the prototype of a three-cylinder development of Britannia.

This locomotive profile dvd traces its beginnings and its short career of just eight years on the West Coast Main Line for BR. But our story really starts with its incredible survival in South Wales, at the famous scrapyard at Barry. Devoid of many of its main components, the Duke is seen at its darkest moment, rusting away by the seaside.

By 1974 help was on the horizon in the form of The 71000 Duke of Gloucester Locomotive Trust who managed to purchase the engine and see it transferred to the fledgling Great Central Railway scheme. We see footage of this rescue and of the early years of restoration at Loughborough.

Extensive sequences of its return to steam are included, with an in depth review of its first main line runs all over the UK.

The programme picks up the story in the early 21st century at Bury on the East Lancs Railway where the Duke was undergoing a huge overhaul for its second term out on the main lines. Sequences of its first move under steam and of its very first running on the Lancashire line begin to trace the start of the new main line ticket.

The locomotive’s first run to Holyhead is covered, as too is the triumphant run over Shap and the Settle-Carlisle in September 2004.

Approx. 60 minutes.