No. 45407 was built by Armstrong Whitworth of Scotswood, Newcastle, in 1937 for the London Midland and Scottish Railway. It was works No. 1462, one of 226 locomotives which formed the largest order ever placed with a private builder by a British railway company, worth £2.7 million. It was outshopped initially to, and then worked along the Midland Main Line. In the late 1960s the engine was moved between various sheds ending up at in 1968. During its working life no. 45407 was based at the following sheds:
One of the final Black 5s in operation, 45407 was withdrawn on 4 August 1968. Dr Peter Beet, the co-founder of Steamtown Carnforth, with Sir Bill McAlpine, and business partnerDavid Davis, visited Lostock Hall MPD to choose a locomotive to save, selecting No. 45407. Davis bought the locomotive for £3,300, and it became part of the Steamtown collection, where for some time it was painted in Furness RailwayIndian red livery. In 1974, it was bought by Paddy Smith, who returned its to LMS livery. He operated the engine on various enthusiast tours, including the Settle-Carlisle Line, the Cambrian Coast Express, the Crewe to Holyhead Line; and The Jacobite between and, where it spent three seasons in the late 1980s. After the last season in Scotland, No. 45407 was returned to Carnforth, and then moved to the East Lancashire Railway to run out the last three years of its boiler certificate. In 1997, Ian Riley bought the engine, and had it overhauled at his railway engineering works, Riley and Son, Bury. The works included a new tender with greater water capacity, the fitting of air brake equipment to enable the engine to haul modern coaching stock. and the fitting of A.W.S. to comply with Railtrack’s modern Safety and Signaling requirements. The loco is based on the East Lancashire Railway at Bury, and was main-line registered until January 2018 following an overhaul in 2010. Around mid January she was moved by road to Ian Riley's workshop in Heywood where another overhaul was to be undertaken. It was also planned for 45407 to emerge following overhaul in the guise of scrapped sister 45157 The Glasgow Highlander for 2018 to mark 150 years since the founding of the Glasgow Highlanders. The locomotive made an appearance at the beginning of the 2005 black comedy movie Keeping Mum, and during the 1991 episode of 'The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge' by Agatha Christie starring David Suchet.
45407 In action
Below are a set of photographs showing 45407 in action on heritage railways as well as at work on the mainline in the preservation era.
