Famous Iron War-horse

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7271, 26 September 1933, Page 4

Famous Iron War-horse

Britain’s most famous veteran of the railways lias gone into retirement. She is “Locomotive 27.17,” of the London Midland and Scottish Kailway, and she is believed to be the only British railway engine to have been captured by the Germans. She has had a working life of more than 1,220,000 miles. This locomotive was one of 78 loaned to the railway operating division for active war service overseas. She was captured by the enemy in the battle of Cambrai in .1917, and for five months was used as a machine-gun post in “bfo Man’s Land.” In the March retreat of 1918 the Germans removed the engine, patched up the bullet and shrapnel holes, and used her for railway purposes until she was recaptured in the great Liitish advance in November. Sho was the first troop train to run from Mons to the German frontier. At the cud of the war she was decorated with a plato recording her war service, and has been used on freight work until this year. Sho was first built more than 50 years ago.