Sunday 5th November marked the 50th anniversary of LMS No. 5428 “Eric Treacy” arriving on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR).
To mark the occasion, the award-winning heritage railway attraction, which is also currently celebrating its 50th anniversary milestone, confirmed that “Eric Treacy” would be in traffic on the day.
The locomotive initially left Tyseley on 3rd November 1973 with the Great Western Saloon in tow. It stayed in York on the way up where the ex-GNR Class J13 (LNER Class J52) No. 1247 from the National Collection was added to the train. Together, they arrived on the NYMR on 5th November 1973, and have been there ever since.
John Hunt, longstanding volunteer at the NYMR said: “‘I can’t believe it’s been 50 years! A group of us went down to Tyseley in 1973 to repair the locomotive so it was ready for the move up to Grosmont. On the day of the move it was shunted in the yard by Flying Scotsman, and I can remember it was awfully foggy on the way to York. ‘Eric’ was then pulled by a class 37 to for its final leg of the journey where there was much excitement at Grosmont as it arrived on NYMR metals, where it has remained for the last 50 years and an icon in the history of the NYMR.”
John Hunt, 78, first came to the NYMR in February 1969 as a photographer. A year later he became a loco cleaner, and then passed out as a fireman in September 1973. In August 1997, John became a fireman passed to drive, and in April 2004 was passed to drive diesels.
For more information about NYMR events visit, nymr.co.uk/events
