THE locomotive that hauled the very last steam train for British Rail has undergone a four-year restoration.

Now the Oliver Cromwell is set to be the centrepiece at a National Railway Museum (NRM) steam gala in York celebrating the 40th anniversary of the official end of British Rail mainline steam in the UK.

Forty years ago marked the end of an era with the closure of regular steam services on the country's railway lines.

The Oliver Cromwell became the last of its kind to be overhauled at Crewe in 1968, before being retired to the Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk to be preserved as part of the National Collection.

Of the 55 Britannia Pacifics built, only Number 70000 Britannia and Number 70013 Oliver Cromwell have been preserved, the former privately.

An appeal to fund the overhaul of the 47-year-old machine in time for the 40th anniversary of British Rail mainline steam was launched in January 2004. In a partnership between the NRM, 5305 Locomotive Association and Loughborough Standard Locomotive Group, Steam Railway Magazine, the Great Central Railway and the Friends of the NRM, the Oliver Cromwell underwent an extensive restoration costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The restoration was due to reach the final stages at the weekend, with the lifting of the boiler.

The newly-restored Oliver Cromwell will be the centrepiece at the NRM's 1968 And All That steam gala, a nine-day event celebrating the anniversary of the official end of British Rail mainline steam in the UK. The event, running from May 24 to June 1, is subtitled "railways in a changing world" and includes steam train rides, access to locomotive footplates, a real ale bar and live theatre performances.

It focuses on 1968 as a year of massive social change, the reverberations of which are still felt today.

Matt Thompson, the event organiser said: "1968 And All That tells the story of change in the late-1960s and should appeal to anyone who lived through these turbulent times or who has an interest in recent history.

"With man a matter of months away from walking on the moon, steam was swept away by the tide of progress. But how did those who worked on the railway feel about these changes?

"With this commemoration we are trying to demonstrate that 1968 symbolised a great period of change, that affected not only the railways but the wider world as well.

"Oliver Cromwell, the last locomotive to haul a BR steam train, makes a worthy centrepiece."


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