LNER Class V2 4771 Green Arrow
The LNER Class V2 2-6-2 steam locomotive, number 4771 Green Arrow was built in June 1936 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. The first-built and only surviving member of its class, it was designed for hauling express freight and passenger trains[1] and named after an express freight service.[2] Numbered 4771 by the LNER, the locomotive was later renumbered 800 by the LNER in November 1946, and 60800 by British Railways in February 1949.[3]
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Preservation [edit]
The locomotive was withdrawn from service in August 1962.[3] Selected for preservation, it was restored at Doncaster Works, where the work was completed in April 1963. Almost ten years of storage then followed, during which it was moved several times. A transfer from Doncaster to Hellifield occurred in October 1964; the locomotive was moved to Wigston in 1967 - this was intended to be the final temporary home, since it was intended that Green Arrow would become one of the permanent exhibits in a Municipal Museum which was proposed for the nearby city of Leicester. However, before the museum was ready, demolition of Wigston locomotive depot was scheduled, and the locomotive was sent south to the Preston Park shops of the Pullman Car Company in September 1970. The National Railway Museum (NRM) was then being planned, and in November 1971 Green Arrow was selected for the National Collection, items from which would form the main display in the NRM. The locomotive was again moved, this time to Norwich depot in January 1972, where it was returned to working order; the first trial trip, to Ely, was on 28 March 1973. It then commenced a series of runs at the head of special trains, before being moved to Carnforth on 2 July 1973.[4] Green Arrow ran in preservation until being withdrawn from service on 21 April 2008, shortly before its boiler certificate expired.
After a series of commemorative runs on preserved railways, the locomotive moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for their LNER gala.[when?] Following the first gala weekend the boiler was found to have two cracked superheater tubes; temporary repairs allowed the loco to make a final run on the second weekend before being finally withdrawn. Following this the loco returned to the National Collection and was on static display at the National Railway Museum's Locomotion site at Shildon. Green Arrow is now on static display in the great hall at NRM York, awaiting an overhaul to mainline running.
Fiction [edit]
Green Arrow appears in The Railway Series book Thomas and the Great Railway Show double-heading a steam special to Scarborough with Thomas the Tank Engine.
Models [edit]
Bachmann and Graham Farish produce models of Green Arrow for OO gauge and N gauge respectively as part of the 2011 range.
Notes [edit]
- ^ Boddy et al. 1984, p. 70.
- ^ Boddy et al. 1984, p. 93.
- ^ a b Boddy et al. 1984, p. 115.
- ^ Boddy et al. 1984, p. 114.
References [edit]
- Boddy, M. G.; Brown, W. A.; Hennigan, W.; Hoole, Ken; Neve, E.; Yeadon, W. B. (September 1984). In Fry, E. V. Locomotives of the L.N.E.R., Part 6C: Tender Engines—Classes Q1 to Y10. Kenilworth: RCTS. ISBN 0-901115-55-X.
Further reading [edit]
- Rutherford, Michael and Blakemore, Michael (1997). Green Arrow and the LNER V2 Class. Penryn: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-906899-77-X.
- Smith, Ian R. (2005). Living with Green Arrow. York: Friends of the National Railway Museum. ISBN 0-9546685-4-5.
- Bellwood, F. J. (February 1982). "Green Arrow and the V2s". Steam World: 31–6.
- Leicester Museum's Four Locos. Leicester Museums. 1968.
External links [edit]
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