Reunion: Geoff White, a former fireman at Old Oak Common and now a volunteer on the Honeybourne Line, fired the last steam locomotive built for British Railways, on its first revenue-earning service: a fitted freight to London. Nearly half a century later, he is pictured here with that locomotive, no. 92220 Evening Star, which is on display at its Swindon birthplace in STEAM: The Museum of the Great Western Railway. Unlike its 250 sisters, Evening Star carries British Railways express green livery and its chimney is graced by a Great Western-style copper cap. Note that the smokebox number plate is made of brass, instead of the usual cast iron. This was also the only member of its class to carry a name (sister engine 92203 was named Black Prince when bought from BR by its owner, David Shepherd). Underneath the name plate is a plaque commemorating the fact that this was the last locomotive built by British Railways. Reference in the article is also made to shed codes – you can see the small oval plate on the lower half of the smokebox door. This reads 50A, which was York although the engine’s first allocation was Cardiff Canton (86C). Evening Star underlined its celebrity status when it worked The Red Dragon express (the headboard of which the engine is carrying in this photograph) on a few occasions and on one day was noted touching 90mph. When Western Region control learned of this they soon put a stop to ‘freight engines’ working express passenger trains. 92220 celebrates her 50th birthday in March 2010 (Photograph: Paul Stratford)