Geograph - photograph every grid square

The very last (standard gauge) steam-hauled train promoted by British Rail ran on Sunday 11th August 1968. Universally (but unofficially) known as the 'Fifteen Guinea Special' because of what was then regarded as an outrageous ticket price (equivalent to almost £340 in 2024), the train ran from Liverpool, to Manchester, and on to Carlisle over the Settle & Carlisle line. It returned by the same route. Remarkably, BR did not give this auspicious train a special name - the locos merely carried its reporting number of 'IT57'! See: Link.
The third leg of the trip, from Carlisle back to Manchester over the Settle & Carlisle line, was double-headed by LMS Black 5s 44871 & 44781. A few hundred yards after SD7784 : The Fifteen Guinea Special leaves Dent Head Viaduct the train is seen approaching Blea Moor Tunnel - the top of the portal masonry is just visible at the bottom of the photo.
Happily 44871 was bought for preservation soon after its last BR trip and was based at Carnforth until c2006. It then moved to the East Lancs Railway at Bury and has been based there ever since although it has travelled widely around the country, see: Link.
The other Black 5 44781 was not so fortunate, it was broken up a few months later - the only one of the 4 'Last Day' steam locos not to survive into the preservation era.