NEWLY OVERHAULED Peppercorn ‘A2’ No. 60532 Blue Peter hauled its first public, revenue-earning railtour for over two decades on November 20.
The BR blue 4‐6‐2, which returned to steam in March this year following a comprehensive £5 million overhaul at Locomotive Services Group’s base at Crewe, was at the head of Saphos Trains’ Rugby-York ‘Christmas White Rose’.
Although the three-cylinder ‘Pacific’ returned to national network metals on July 13, that train – which ran from King’s Cross-York – was for invited guests only, whereas the ‘Christmas White Rose’ was its first railtour for fare-paying passengers since its previous main line ‘ticket’ expired in September 2001.
Joining the train at Crewe, taking over from LSG’s Intercity-liveried Class 87 No. 87002, Blue Peter and its crew braved the icy conditions, with snow on the ground for much of the route, to take the train to York. Blue Peter’s previous main line outing was the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group-organised ‘Blue Peter
Farewell’ on June 9 2001, with No. 60532 – then painted in BR lined green – travelling from Crewe to Darlington via Shap and Carlisle.
