The ‘East Coast Giants’ event at Barrow Hill Roundhouse drew thousands of rail enthusiasts from across Britain and beyond – and confirmed Derbyshire’s place as a mecca for steam. David Birchall reports.
ON JULY 3, 1938 driver Joseph Duddington and fireman Tommy Bray departed from Kings Cross with their A4 class locomotive 4468 “Mallard”, and passed into railway folklore. At Stoke Bank, south of Grantham on the east coast mainline,they achieved a new world speed record for a steam locomotive of 126mph, a record which stands to this day…