Birmingham New Street Station

BR Period Locomotives: lnwrbns_br388

British Railways Standard Class 7 4-6-2 No 70017 'Arrow', a Britannia class locomotive, stands at the East end of Platform 5 with an up express on 8th August 1964. Derek Dean writes, 'Built at Crewe in July 1951 No 70017 was allocated to 81A Old Common shed until 26th May 1953, then to 72B Salisbury shed for four weeks only, covering for Merchant Navy locomotive, then back to 81A Old Oak Common shed'. In September 1966 it was withdrawn from 12A Kingmoor shed in Carlisle after an accident at Carlisle to be scrapped in January 1967 by J Cashmore of Newport. Towards the end of steam operations the method of selecting locomotives for withdrawal was based on their condition and the cost of servicing etc. Therefore the cost of repairs to a locomotive following an accident which would not have been an issue just a year or two previously would be sufficient to see the locomotive dispatched to the breaker's yard.

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