TRAIN enthusiasts gathered to watch record-breaking steam engine Mallard leave Shildon to mark the end of a display honouring the locomotive.
The Great Goodbye exhibition brought together Mallard and its five remaining A4 class sister engine at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon.
The famous engine was pulled to the National Railway Museum in York by fellow A4, Union of South Africa.
A crowd was at Shildon to bid it farewell.
Sharon Thorburn, Locomotion’s front of office manager, said: “Quite a few visitors were at the museum to see Mallard and Union of South Africa leave.
“Everyone seems to have been really amazed by the display and now that they’re going it seems such a shame.
“The other engines are still on show and they can be viewed and we’ve had quite a few visitors through today.”
The display celebrated Mallard reaching 125.88mph on July 3 1938 to become the world’s fastest steam engine.
Staff at Locomotion estimated that 72,000 visitors would head to the museum to see the engines during the nine-days of The Great Goodbye.
Instead nearly 120,000 people attended.The A4 class Sir Nigel Gresley leaves Shildon tomorrow (Tuesday, February 25) followed by Bittern on Wednesday (February 26).
Dwight D Eisenhower and Dominion of Canada will remain at Shildon until the end of April.
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