Bittern was travelling from Shildon through to the National Rail Museum in York to join Mallard and other locomotives
View gallery Gallery: Bittern locomotive passes through Eaglescliffe
View gallery
Dozens of people visited Eaglescliffe Station today to see Bittern pass through on its way to York.
Onlookers included Dave Pearson, from Ingleby Barwick, who was one of tens of thousands of people who visited Bittern and five other A4 locomotives - including the famous Mallard - when they were brought to NRM (National Railway Museum) Shildon last week.
“It (Bittern) stopped just outside the station and turned round in the sidings and then off it went,” said Dave, 67, a retired engineer.
It was an amazing experience for Dave, who is a member of the North East Locomotive Preservation Group (NELPG).
His love of trains has been passed on to his son, Richard, who turned his hobby into a job now working as an operations manager at Shildon.
“He went over to Canada to bring one of the trains over and he was kept very busy when the six were on show at Shildon,” said Dave.
On July 3, 1938 the A4 class locomotive Mallard raced down Stoke Bank at 126mph to set a new steam locomotive world speed record.
It is a record that still stands today.
The National Railway Museum has been celebrating the 75th anniversary of Mallard’s achievement.
Almost 120,000 visitors attended the Great Goodbye event at NRM Shildon between February 15 and 23 to celebrate six A4s altogether on one site.
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