HERE is a scene that will soon be consigned to railway history, as all six surviving Class A4 sister engines gathered at the National Railway Museum (NRM) at Shildon, County Durham, yesterday.

Following their get-together at the NRM in York’s Great Gathering last year, Mallard, Sir Nigel Gresley, Dwight D Eisenhower, Union Of South Africa, Dominion Of Canada and Bittern are now at Shildon for the Great Goodbye, which runs from today until Sunday, February 23.

After that all six A4 engines will return to their home museums.