Deltic

Like many a lad who was in his early teens in the 1960's, I was a bit of a trainspotter. In truth, it was a good time for it, being the last couple of years of steam on the railways so whilst most trains were pulled by diesels there was always that hope that a steam train may just come along, and the excitement when one did. Many is the happy hour I spent with my friend Douglas on the end of the platform at Darlington Bank Top Station, or if pocket money was lasting a bit longer we'd splash out and go to Newcastle. Of course, we never told our parents if we did that; far too extravagant. As I got older, music, girls, work and life took over, and I never really kept anything much more than a passing interest. However, since I retired I have tended to look out for any steam engine nearby and go along to see it if I can. But diesels? No thanks. The newer ones don't interest me and the older ones that have been preserved are a bit too familiar from my youth to be interesting.

Of course, there's always an exception and this is it, the only diesel I'd make an effort to see. It's a 'Deltic', and it used to run the top express trains from London to Edinburgh. For the technically minded, it was powered by two Napier Deltic Marine style engines producing 3300 horsepower, but for everyone else all you need to know is that it makes a wonderful noise, quite different from any other diesel you have ever heard. This one was at the Nene Valley Railway today; it is actually 55022 (formerly D9000) 'Royal Scots Grey' but currently running disguised as 55018 (D9018) 'Ballymoss'.