In early 1966 Aylesbury station became a place of pilgrimage. It was quiet there. The silence was interrupted only by the infrequent arrival of diesel multiple units from Marylebone and the shunting manoeuvres of BR-Sulzer 'type 2s' at the far end of the down platform. To the north, the twin tracks of the old Great Central main line disappeared into the green and mysterious countryside as if Middle England had swallowed them up.
We knew it was about to end and so we memorised the timetable of the semi-fasts to Nottingham, infrequent though they were, and waited patiently for hours until one came along. It was always a Colwick 'Black Five', coated in grease, grimy with coal dust and zebra-striped by priming deposits. It would clank briskly into the station and pull up in a cloud of steam at the water column. Behind it would be a short rake of tatty maroon coaches, the compartment ones with varnished oak rails at the windows. Nos. 44830 and 45324 were often used on these turns. In August they were both transferred to 9F Heaton Mersey. No. 45324 had been at Colwick for only 26 weeks.
The fireman would climb onto the tender, lift the filler cap and insert the bag, while the driver turned the stopcock handle at the base of the cast-iron water column. They would look mutely and gravely at the audience of enthusiasts and spotters who stood there silently drinking in the scene, straining to memorise every last detail. The moment when the streaming bag was flung out of the tender and the black arm of the water column was swung away assumed the level of high drama. Then whistles would shrill, the cylinder drain-cocks would hiss and the train would move slowly and deliberately forward until, with syncopated clanking and gathering momentum, it would be gone, leaving only a slight whiff of steam, coal dust and lubricating oil.
In 1952 the Eastern Region shed 38A Colwick, and its subshed at Derby Friargate, had an allocation of 207 locomotives, 76% of them ex-LNER and the rest 'WD' 2-8-0s. These were the freight engines that handled the Nottinghamshire coal traffic, but there was also one named engine, no. 61657 'Doncaster Rovers'. Renumbered 40E the MPD was transferred to the LMR for slightly less than one year until it closed on 12 December 1966. During this period it had an allocation that peaked at 98 locomotives, but they represented only three classes: 28 were 'Black Fives', 65 were Stanier '8Fs' and the other five were BR moguls. The only exception was 'B1' no. 61264, Departmental no. 29, which was used as a stationary boiler. After 49 weeks as the sole representative of former LNER glory, this engine made it into preservation.
During the final week of Nottingham services, three Colwick 'Black Fives' failed at the London end. The last one diagrammed to make the return trip, no. 44825, failed on shed with injector trouble and had to be replaced by no. 44984, mechanically more reliable but visually scruffy, as they so often were. A wreath adorned its smokebox door. Fortunately, under skilled hands this locomotive put up a valiant show of speed on its last turn to Marylebone and back. After only 65 years the Great Central London extension was gone, an absurd loss considering that its promoter, Sir Edward Watkin, was correct in foreseeing the need for a relief line to connect the Northwest with the Continent, with or without a Channel Tunnel.
As the last 'Black Five' of the day disappeared in the direction of Nottingham Victoria, a kindly driver, who saw how it had depressed me, gave me a short ride in the cab of D5002.
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