On 29th April 2014, day 4 of ‘Great Britain 7’, ‘Royal Scot’ Class 4-6-0 46115 ‘Scots Guardsman’ is making a superb effort with a 12 coach train on the West Coast mainline between Carlisle and Glasgow at Harthope, near the summit of the 10-mile long Beattock Bank which has an average gradient of 1 in 80. In the days of regular steam, Royal Scots, introduced by Fowler in 1927 and rebuilt by Stanier from 1943, were regular performers on this route, but would almost certainly have required a banking engine with this load.

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