At the beginning of May 2011, my friend Keith visited from Australia. Together, we made a visit to the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley.
In the museum section of the large locomotive shed at Swanwick Junction, we were both taken with the elderly Midland 2-4-0, number 158A. The Kirtley design was built in Derby in 1866 and spent a couple of years working Midland trains to King's Cross, before the Midland opened their own London terminal at St. Pancras. The locomotive underwent a number of rebuilds during its long life and was finally withdrawn from local passenger train service in 1947.
