Eric

This is Eric.  Lots of people like Eric nowadays, but that wasn't always the case.  You see, Eric and his brothers were built to move freight wagons around into big trains so they could be taken all over the country.  However, the Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples, thought it was a silly idea to send lots of freight wagons around the country pulled by one engine when you could send lots of individual wagons around the country each with its own engine on a motorway!  OK, we didn't actually have any motorways at the time but that wasn't a problem, as that nice Mr Marples just happened to be involved with a company that built them, so he could get it all done without bothering anybody else.  Clever Mr Marples!

But that meant Eric and his brothers didn't have anything to do.  They tried sending some of them to Hull but the people in Hull didn't like them because they weren't strong enough.  That meant they had to use two of them, with two crews to drive them, which cost a lot.  So they put them into storage.

Some of them got sold into industry, mainly coal mines and steel works and they were happy there, but then the Government closed all the coal mines and most of the steel works so once again they didn't have anything to do.  A lot got scrapped but Eric and 18 of his brothers got jobs on preserved railways where they got looked after very well.

Eric normally lives at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway in Derbyshire but he's visiting the North Norfolk Railway this week.  Everyone here seems to like him.