Green Arrow surprise last run

Green Arrow departs from Levisham northbound with an NYMR
photo charter on 14 March. DICK MANTON

Such is the overwhelming popularity of preservation icon LNER V2 2-6-2 No 4771 Green Arrow that after it was declared a total failure three weeks before, and would not steam again, North Yorkshire Moors Railway locomotive engineers carried out a temporary repair to enable its planned final farewell run on 26 April to go ahead after all. Robin Jones and Brian Sharpe pay tribute to one of Britain’s biggest steam stars.

Days after custodian the National Railway Museum public decreed it would not steam again, after being withdrawn from North Yorkshire Moors Railway service with cracked superheater flues on 1 April, secret moves behind the scenes began to enable Gresley V2 2-6-2 No 4771 Green Arrow to see out the end of its boiler ticket.
Grosmont engineers made a full assessment of the situation and approached the NRM with an action plan to carry out a temporary repair to allow one of the most popular preservation icons of all time to make one last return trip over the Moorsline on Saturday 26 April.

The plan was accepted, and the locomotive department staff set to work, pulling out all the stops to make the trip happen, albeit with the V2 running at yet further reduced boiler pressure, along with the museum proviso that it was banked all the way, by LNWR ‘Super D’ 0-8-0 No 49395.

As it happened, it ran one-and-a-half round trips, departing Grosmont to Pickering with an empty stock train – the NYMR’s Gresley teak set, of course - at 10.30am, in top-and-tail mode with the ‘Super D’.

Facing south, it was on the back of the noon departure from Pickering to Grosmont which arrived shortly after 1pm.

It then departed Grosmont at 1.30pm and arrived back into Pickering at 2.45pm, the trip costing £25 per head, and limited to 80 seats on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition to the public, staff members of the NRM travelled to say their farewells to ‘a much-loved friend.’

Afterwards, the V2 stayed behind at Pickering, where its last fire was thrown out before it was taken away by low loader, to start what appears to be an indefinite sojourn at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum in Shildon.

NYMR general manager Philip Benham said: "We were delighted to be able to offer the public a last chance ride, especially after the disappointment of the mechanical failure three weeks before.”

"I am most grateful to our engineers for their endeavours to make this possible." NRM head of knowledge and collections Helen Ashby said: “We realise that this opportunity has come about very much at the last minute but we were reluctant  to raise the public’s hopes until we were satisfied that No 4771 was capable of making a final run.”

So it began its latest stint in steam with leaking tubes – and ended on the same note 10 years later. However, in the intervening years, Gresley V2 2-6-2 No 4771 established itself as one of the most popular of all steamable British locomotives – many enthusiasts placing it above A3 No 4472 Flying Scotsman in the grand pecking order.

Yet this magnificent locomotive is now silent. And sadly, at the same time as the new-build A1 Pacific No 60163 Tornado is all set to create international headlines, Green Arrow will stay silent.

The Museum has decreed that, for the time being at least, it will not be restored, but will go on static display. The big problem is its unique monobloc cylinder casting, which needs to be replaced. The NRM has so far backed away from replacing the cracked monobloc as it is an historic component – even though it could be stored for posterity or placed on display while a replacement keeps the locomotive running.

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