QX17.01 – Locos used Between St Pancras and Sheffield.

Query Corner – top page

From the mid 1950s to the mid/late 1960s, my wife regularly travelled between St Pancras and Sheffield to visit family. What steam engines and in latter years diesel engines would head up these trains? I live near King’s Lynn and am part owner of ex BR WR diesel hydraulic shunter D9521 based at the Dean Forest Railway and also a director of the trust that owns Hunslet Austerity No. 3193 currently being restored at Yaxham, Dereham, Norfolk.
A good chunk of my (mis-spent?) youth was spent on the east end of platforms 3/4 at Cardiff General Station so my expertise such as it is would be limited to Swindon products! I’d guess that St Pancras-Sheffield would be mostly LMS/Midland region motive power but perhaps not exclusively (LNER?) and my best guess would be Jubilees/Patriots and Black 5s rather than the big beasts of the West Coast mainline. (Peter Brennan)

Answer
The mainstay of services between Sheffield and St Pancras were in the hands of Jubilees with a few Scots and Patriots thrown in. Black Fives were also quite common and the odd Standard Class 5 or Britannia. From early 1962 the Peaks had taken over, Class 45 or 46. They reigned supreme until their demise in the late 70s when the HSTs were introduced. I do recall seeing a V2 on an Up express south of Sheffield but whether this was a York to Bristol service I am not sure. The only B1s I can recall were on the occasional Hope Valley services. (Nigel Sporne 14737)