A special rail tour to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain came to an abrupt standstill at Stevenage railway station on Sunday when the locomotive literally ran out of steam.
The Peak Forester rail tour which was travelling from London to Matlock in Derbyshire saw locomotive No 34046 Braunton renamed No 34052 Lord Dowding to commemorate air chief marshal Hugh Dowding, who was the head of the RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and the main architect of its success.
Stevenage’s Hugh Madgin, who took the picture, said: “It’s not often these days that a train fails at Stevenage owing to the wrong kind of coal!
“The excursion had run well all day until poor quality coal taken on during the home leg caused a lack of steam.
“Passengers were diverted on to regular trains at Stevenage and the locomotive and its train of 11 coaches were hauled back to Southall by a diesel engine.”
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