Disused Stations: Nottingham London Road Low Level Station

Caledonian 123 at Nottingham London Road Low Level station in October 1953. The loco was part of a travelling exhibition called 'Royal Journey'. The loco was not 'in steam' at this time as it was not restored to running order until 1958. This loco was built by Neilson and Company of Glasgow in 1886. This unique 4-2-2 was originally built as an exhibition loco but in 1914 it was placed on the Caledonian duplicate list and renumbered to 1123. 1923 saw it enter LMS service and it was renumbered again to 14010 and classified as 1P; this it carried until withdrawal in 1935 and subsequent preservation. Restored as Cally 123 by British Railways, it worked railtours until the end of Scottish steam and was then put on static display in Glasgow. During its working life it was one of the locos that took part in the ‘Race to the North’ where railway companies of the time vied to get from London to Scotland first. 123 is reputed to have regularly hauled trains at over 55mph, pushing it to its limit.
Photo by John Ford from David Ford's Flickr photostream

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