60019 Bittern, Class A4 Gresley PacificPhotographed stabled at Alton, the Mid-Hants Railway (the Watercress Line) on 12 February 2009.
This locomotive arrived at the Mid-Hants Railway on 31 August 2001 and underwent a complete restoration.
Bittern was built at the LNER works in Doncaster at the end of 1937. The locomotive was numbered 4464 and painted garter blue. Initially Bittern was based at Heaton in Newcastle and served the famous Flying Scotsman train in the section between King's Cross and Newcastle. Normally Bittern would leave Newcastle on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:15 and return pulling the Flying Scotsman train the next day, leaving King's Cross at 10:00.
After WW2 Bittern served on the well known Talisman service (King's Cross to Edinburgh at 16:00) between King's Cross and Newcastle.
By 1963 with the much reduced steam services in England the handful of the remaining A4 locomotives were moved to Scotland and put in storage. After a short period Bittern was moved to Ferryhill at Aberdeen and ran to Edinburgh and Glasgow. This service only lasted three years. On 3rd September 1966 Bittern pulled its last public service train as a return trip from Glasgow to Aberdeen. Bittern was in fact the last A4 in public service, along with Kingfisher (No 60024).
Bittern was withdrawn from British Railways traffic on 5th September 1966 and was bought by Geoff Dury on 12th September 1966. Over the next few years Bittern ran a number of steam special excursions and made appearances on private lines. In 1988 the locomotive had an identity change. Bittern was painted silver, renumbered 2509 and renamed as Silver Link.
In 1995 a major restoration of Bittern was begun at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough but never completed.
In April 1997 Dr Tony Marchington purchased Bittern to complement his other steam locomotive Flying Scotsman. This seemed entirely appropriate since in the late 1930s Bittern was one of a group of Gresley class A4 steam locomotives which took over the duties of the Gresley class A3s (including Flying Scotsman). The Flying Scotsman train is one of the most famous in the world leaving King's Cross in London at 10:00 each morning for Edinburgh. The locomotive was in a stripped down state when bought by Dr Tony Marchington in 1997 and moved to Southall in London.
During 2000 Bittern was purchased by a London businessman from Tony Marchington and now resides at the Mid-Hants Railway.
Picture added on 28 February 2009
Added by David J Pickering on 10 February 2010.