60007 Sir Nigel Gresley

Wallpaper Description:

“4498” Sir Nigel Gresley

Sir Nigel Gresley was built for the LNER in 1937, and was the 100th Gresley Pacific built.
 
Locomotive 4498 was actually due to receive the name Bittern, originally suggested for 4492 (later Dominion of New Zealand). So the story goes, an LNER enthusiast who worked in the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society,
realised in time that 4498 was the 100th Gresley Pacific locomotive and the suggestion was made that the locomotive be named after her designer.
 
Sir Nigel Gresley holds the post-war steam record speed of 112mph gained on the 23 May 1959 and carries a plaque to that effect.
 
On that record-breaking run, renowned driver Bill Hoole was on the footplate. He had a reputation for pushing locomotives to their limits.
 
Bill believed that, given more freedom from those pesky safety regulations “Mallard’s record would have gone by the board”.
 
Sir Nigel Gresley was saved from the scrap heap in 1966 and is based at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. It carried the Olympic Flame in 2012.