5th May 1963?

? Manchester United F.C. ?
?The Manchester United Special?

Route :

Notes :
(1) Further details required, including date confirmation. Details for this page come courtesy of Kester Eddy 's memories: One May Sunday afternoon in the early 1960s my parents and I took off on/in our motorbike and sidecar from Bedford. This was quite common for us, only unusually we ended up on the Midland main line at about MP 55 (at a guess) somewhere north of Oakley. It was about 15.00 or so in the afternoon. Now I never bothered much with the Midland main line on a Sunday - there were v few trains and by then all passenger was class 45 worked except for failures. But suddenly steam appeared from the south, and what should hurry past but Scot 46115 hauling the "Manchester United Special" (I am not saying that was it's real name - but IIRC it did have a headboard on the loco...I confess I could be imagining that however, after all these years). Whatever, something made it clear it was the MU team returning home from London after winning at Wembley. (I was not a footie fan at the time, and did not take huge interest). But I remember my mum or dad saying there were people waving to us from the train. Looking up the records, this has to have been on Sunday 5 May 1963. In more moderns times I have often wondered about this special - I think MU club must have requested a steam loco - there was otherwise absolutely no need for steam, there were plenty of spare Cl 45s spare on Sundays. I also suspect that this was the last non-enthusiast working of a Scot out of St Pancras.

Source : Kester Eddy

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