4464 Bittern

Wallpaper Description:

“4464” Bittern

Initially Bittern was based at Heaton in Newcastle and served the famous Flying Scotsman route in the section between King’s Cross and Newcastle.
 
Early in her career, Bittern suffered some collision damage, necessitating a general overhaul at Doncaster from 3rd – 4th January 1938.
 
Bittern lost her garter blue paint for wartime black and was required to pull longer than normal passenger trains and later heavy freight and coal trains.
 
The final day in service for Bittern was September 3rd 1966.
 
Only now have the important repairs been undertaken to bring her up to mainline standard.
 
Bittern is the only one with its original tender. By contrast it has had 14 different boilers, more than any other A4