45428 (LMS 5428 & 45428)

45428 on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway - March 2016.jpg

LMS 5428 was built in 1937 by Armstrong Whitworth at Newcastle upon Tyne, one of an order for 227 such locomotives, the largest order ever placed by a British railway company with a private firm. A further 100 Black Fives were also built by the firm.

BR motive power depot allocations since 1948.

Date Arrived	Depot
January 1948	Carlisle Upperby
February 1948	Patricroft
November 1955	Leeds Holbeck
April 1959	Farnley Junction
September 1966	Stourton
January 1967	Leeds Holbeck

Leeds Holbeck was one of the nearest depots to the North Fast to which they were allocated, and 45428 was one of that depot’s allocation. As well as working main line trains, Holbeck provided Class 5s for summer specials from the West Riding to Whitby, via York, Malton, Pickering and what is now the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR). The locomotive hauled the last steam worked London bound express from Bradford to Leeds on I October 1967 and was withdrawn a week later when steam traction was abandoned in the Leeds area — and indeed throughout the North East region.

It was withdrawn from service in July 1967 but remained at Holbeck shed for another year before travelling under its own steam, light engine with no coach as is now the case, to the Birmingham Railway Museum at Tyseley (now Vintage Trains who is custodian of the Tyseley Collection of railway engines) in August 1968.

It remained at Tyseley for a number of years and gained the name Eric Treacy after the former Bishop of Wakefield, an eminent railway photographer. (The Treacy collection of some 2,000 railway images is housed in the National Railway Museum in York.) He died in May 1978 of a heart attack whilst at Appleby station on the Settle & Carlisle line, waiting for a rail tour. BR 92220 Evening Star.

45428 moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and ran there in the early 1980s and again in the 1990s before being withdrawn again for a complete overhaul. It returned to service in 2010, after an absence of eleven years, after the completing of a £600,000 restoration programme.

26th May 2011 was the official 175th Anniversary of the opening of the Whitby and Pickering railway, to celebrate the occasion 45428 hauled a special ‘Pullman’ service from Whitby to Pickering and back.

Towards the end of 2016 45428 was taken out of service for overhaul at Grosmont which it is hoped will be completed quite quickly so that the locomotive can return to service in 2017.

In early 2017 the boiler had been de-tubed and a number of stays removed to permit repairs to cracking around the stay holes in the copper lined firebox. Work was also undertaken on the axleboxes with the prime aim of correcting a slight misalignment on the rear axlebox. The locomotive’s tender continues to be used behind 44806 whilst the latter’s own is completed.

The locomotive will carry LMS livery when it steams again.

It is thought that the overhaul will be completed during the winter of 2017/18. By October 2017 the cab had been refitted to the locomotive which allowed work to continue on wiring and fitting-out.

In January 2018 the boiler was hydraulically tested to 330lbs/sq in. In early February it as trial-fitted onto the frames.

In July 2018 the locomotive returned to traffic and a month later it undertook a test run on the national network between Grosmont to Battersby.