The LNER Encyclopedia

I play a couple of browser games called TrainStation and TrainStation 2; and in both games, they have the same pair of A4's available to collect; one is Mallard in LNER Garter Blue, and oddly, the other is Sparrowhawk, in BR Brunswick Green.

Seeing it show up got me wondering something; Mallard is an obvious choice, but why Sparrowhawk in particular? Did she have an unusual career or something?

Sparrowhawk is certainly an odd choice. It was always a Tyneside engine and rarely put onto any of the crack expresses. More often than not, seen in grubby condition, it is reputed to have been camera-shy and ended up being the least-photographed of all the A4s.

Certainly seems so; though apparently she had been photographed at least once on the 'up' White Rose in 1954, and according to the SLS, in mid-September 1956, she put in a cracker of a performance on the 'down' Talisman, getting all the way to King's Cross and arriving four minutes early after a lot of delays.