Birmingham New Street Station

BR Period Locomotives: lnwrbns_br352

British Railways built 5MT 4-6-0 No 44687 stands on the middle road between Platforms 7 and 8 ready to to take forward the Pines Express in June 1951. Ian, of Ian Allen Photography, writes to correct the original caption stating that 'No 44687 and sister locomotive No 44686 were equipped with the Associated Locomotive Engineers version of Caprotti valve gear (not Lenzi valve gear as first described).' Built in May 1951 at Horwich Works, No 44687 was the final version of Stanier's Black 5 as British Railways introduced their own version of the 5MT class in April 1951. The Pines express ran for the first time under this name on 26th September 1927 and is believed to have been named after the pine trees growing in the Chines in the Bournemouth area. When the service first ran, unnamed, on 1st October 1910 it was run jointly by the Midland Railway and LNWR being introduced in response to the joint London South Western Railway and GWR service between Birkenhead and Bournemouth.

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