60094 Colarado stranded at Retford (GN)shed about 1961.
Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 10:09 pm
I went to school in Mansfield and I remember one summer Monday in the early 60s lads from Ollerton excitedly telling the rest of us that they had seen Haymarket A3 60094 Colorado dead on Retford (GN) shed over the week end. The following evening I managed to persuade my parents to take the dog for a walk in Clumber Park and have a detour via Retford on the way home. Sure enough there in the shed yard was Colorado,freshly painted and in ex-works condition and, if I remember right, facing north. From reports of my Ollerton friends it was there for the next fortnight.
My suspicion is that it must have failed badly on either the Doncaster Works-Grantham triangle test run or alternatively on a Doncaster running-in turn. Can anybody throw any light on this for me ,please.
Certainly Haymarket A3s were rarer than hen's teeth at Retford (only the Canal A3s were more elusive) and it caused great excitement at school! I did manage to kop 60043 Brown Jack at Newark in late February 1959 on the Doncaster Works-Grantham test run (it had just been fitted with its double chimney) but these two engines were the only two Haymarket A3s I ever saw south of Doncaster shed.
My suspicion is that it must have failed badly on either the Doncaster Works-Grantham triangle test run or alternatively on a Doncaster running-in turn. Can anybody throw any light on this for me ,please.
Certainly Haymarket A3s were rarer than hen's teeth at Retford (only the Canal A3s were more elusive) and it caused great excitement at school! I did manage to kop 60043 Brown Jack at Newark in late February 1959 on the Doncaster Works-Grantham test run (it had just been fitted with its double chimney) but these two engines were the only two Haymarket A3s I ever saw south of Doncaster shed.