Preservation
Two Britannias have survived, the original, number 70000 Britannia, and 70013 Oliver Cromwell. Number 70000 was originally selected to represent the class in the embryonic form of the future National Railway Museum, but she was ultimately rejected due to the poor mechanical condition the locomotive was in. As a result 70013 was eventually selected to represent the class for the benefit of future generations. However, 70000 had been purchased privately from British Railways by the Britannia Locomotive Group, therefore ensuring that the doyen of the class was to survive into the preservation era. Subsequently utilised on mainline railtours, the locomotive was out of use in the late 1990s, requiring work to bring it back to steam; it was eventually sold to Pete Waterman and stored at Crewe. After a spell in storage on the Bressingham Steam Museum in Diss, Norfolk, 70013 was moved to the Great Central Railway (preserved), following an ownership dispute between Bressingham and the National Railway Museum. The locomotive returned to steam in May 2008 on the Great Central Railway after the readers of Steam Railway magazine contributed towards its overhaul. In July 2008 it appeared in WCRC's Open Weekend at Steamtown, Carnforth. August saw the locomotive return to the main line. Its first turn was the 1T57 'Fifteen Guinea Special' re-run from Manchester to Carlisle, 40 years after it performed the same duty in 1968. After overhaul at Crewe, 70000 also returned to the main line in 2011 (its 60th anniversary), initially in unlined black without name plates as originally outshopped in 1951 (the plates were first fitted for the Festival of Britain later that year).
- For location details of the preserved locomotives, see: List of BR 'Britannia' Class locomotives
Read more about this topic: BR Standard Class 7
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