IN retrospect, the summer of 1962 was pivotal in the annals of British locomotive history. The balance between steam and diesel power started to weigh more heavily in favour of modern traction, as ‘Deltics’ held sway on the East Coast Main Line, swathes of the United Kingdom saw steam only infrequently, and the locomotive doyens of the ‘Big Four’ railway companies began their inevitable trudge to the scrapyards. It was to be the last summer of the ‘Kings’ and, while steam was to hang on another six years, each year to 1968 would see fewer strongholds in which refuge could be sought.