Page last updated at 01:46 GMT, Saturday, 24 May 2008 02:46 UK

Last steam loco in the spotlight

Oliver Cromwell steam engine
The Oliver Cromwell took four years to restore

The locomotive which hauled the last British Rail passenger steam train is taking its place in an exhibition to mark 40 years since the end of steam.

The Oliver Cromwell made its historic journey, from Liverpool to Carlisle, in August 1968.

It has been restored in a four-year project at the Great Central Railway workshops in Loughborough.

The 1968 And All That event at York's National Railway Museum also recalls the social changes of the 1960s.

'Pivotal year'

The Oliver Cromwell will be welcomed to the museum by members of Colonel Edward Montagu's Regiment of Foot, a roundhead regiment of the English Civil War Society.

The Britannia-class Pacific No 70013 originally ran on the Norwich to London line, and made its final trip on 11 August 1968.

Event organiser Matt Thompson said: "With this celebration we are trying to demonstrate that 1968 was a pivotal year in a great period of change that affected not only the railways but the wider world as well.

"The end of steam was an important date in history - so there should be a real sense of occasion at this event, with the return of Oliver Cromwell from restoration and the opportunity for railway workers from the time to pass on their memories of the end of an era to new generations."


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