English: 71000 Duke of Gloucester This is an interesting locomotive with a story to tell. It was designed by Robert Riddles (who also designed other BR standards), he had wanted to experiment and asked the board if he could build this locomotive. The answer was no.

However the situation changed as a replacement for the destroyed Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne was needed after the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952. The locomotive was based on a Britannia but had several differences including Caprotti valve gear. It was finished at Crewe in 1954, unfortunately is was a failure with poor draughting and high fuel consumption. After 8 years the locomotive had the cylinders and valves ripped off and saved while the rest was sent to scrap. The locomotive ending up at the wrong scrapyard at first but Dai Woodman had bought it so it was then sent to Barry. Laziness saved it like many others as the scrappers cut diesels and wagons which were easier. So in 1974 it was bought for preservation. A major risk as the locomotive was a failure. While the 'mission impossible' as it was called was being restored the problems were found and rectified. Two significant construction errors were discovered during restoration:

   * The chimney was too small compared to other locomotives of similar size, resulting in poor boiler draughting at times of high steam demand.

   * The firebed (grate) air inlet dampers had not been built to the drawings, and were too small, resulting in poor oxygen supply and inefficient combustion.

The opportunity taken to incorporate some other improvements, including the previously recommended Kylchap exhaust system, which has finally unlocked the locomotive's true potential as a powerful express passenger locomotive.

It is based at the ELR and has trips on the mainline. Here it is seen at the 2006 steam gala.