Made my first visit back to the Nene Valley Railway since the Spring of this year, and this time they had another mainline Steam Locomotive on hand! Based from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, 1935 built 45212 from the LMS Stanier Class 5, one of 18 members of the class that survived into preservation, has recently been hired out by the railway primarily to run it's special Winter/Santa services for the rest of this year, as well as run one normal service day which took place this past Sunday. as it hauled a Train named The Fenman, a famous passenger train that first formed under British Rail in 1949 and ran from London Liverpool Street Station to Hunstanton in Norfolk.
While I have seen a few LMS Black 5's on the mainline previously, this was the first time I got to see and ride behind one on a heritage railway, and it was a wonderful experience! 45212 was one of over 840 locomotives built for the class between 1934 and 1951, which were most known as one of the most reliable mixed traffic locomotives built, being very strongly able to handle the likes of Passenger trains, cargo and goods trains alike, and with a good chunk of them being preserved following the withdrawal of Steam on the BR rails in the late 1960's, they've very much proved their worth in preservation and are a well loved and respected class of locomotives among Steam Enthusiasts!