Todmorden - Copy Pit 1st August 1968

The last steam banker on British Railways, Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48519 of Rose Grove, prepares to buffer up to a freight train to bank it on the climb from Stansfield Hall to Copy Pit summit.

My life-long interest in railways really started not far from here while eating fish and chips one evening in April 1968 when I heard the banker (without knowing what it was) thrashing up the hill in the darkness. A bit late in the day because steam ended on BR 4 months later.