Steam locomotive No.45212 has arrived at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in readiness for the upcoming 50th Anniversary Gala this weekend.

45212 is taking part, alongside 41241, 34092 City of Wells and others, at the 50th Anniversary Gala, a mega 8-day gala to celebrate 50 years of the KWVR being a preserved railway.

The locomotive travelled up from London yesterday to Carnforth, alongside 60103 Flying Scotsman, where it stayed the night.

This morning, 45212 has made its way through Cumbria and Yorkshire to come off the National Network and onto KWVR metals.

A brief history of 45212

45212 is a mixed traffic ‘Black 5′ steam locomotive. Numbered 5212 by the LMS and produced in 1935 in Newcastle by Armstrong Whitworth. The locomotive started life in Bradford and was withdrawn from Lostock Hall (Preston) in 1968. Bought the same year by the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, it arrived in October 1968 and is ideal for use on the heavy services at the KWVR.

In an agreement between the KWVR and Riley & Son (E) Ltd, as part of the ten-year agreement, the locomotive went under a major overhaul to allow it to operate on the mainline. As part of the agreement, either 45212 or a replacement will spend the winter months at the KWVR (2017/18 was Black 5 No. 44871). The locomotive returned to steam at the Autumn Steam Gala in 2016 and spent 2017 up in Scotland hauling ‘The Jacobite’.

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Photo credit: Tom Blackman – see his Facebook Page here