BR Standard Class 7 70000 Britannia

British Railways Standard Class 7 'Britannia Class' No. 70000 Britannia is a preserved steam locomotive, owned by the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust.

Britannia was built at Crewe, completed on 2 January 1951. It was the first British Railways standard locomotive to be built and the first of 55 locomotives of the Britannia class. The locomotive was named at a ceremony at Marylebone Station by the then Minister for Transport Alfred Barnes on 30 January 1951.

The BR Locomotive Naming Committee were determined not to use names already in use on other locomotives. They tried to observe this by not selecting the name Britannia for use on 70000 because it was already in use on one of the ex-LMS Jubilee Class locomotives, specifically No. 45700 but Robert Riddles overruled them and the Jubilee had to be renamed to Amethyst.

Britannia was initially based at Stratford (30A) in order to work East Anglian expresses to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, but was also particularly associated with the Hook Continental boat train to Harwich. Subsequently, the loco was based at Norwich Thorpe (w/e 31 January 1959) and March (June 1961) before spending the remainder of its career on the London Midland Region: Willesden (1A) (w/e 30 March 1963), Crewe North (5A) (w/e 25 May 1963), Crewe South (5B) (w/e 19 May 1965) and finally Newton Heath (9D) (w/e 5 March 1966) from where it was withdrawn w/e 28 May 1966.

The locomotive pulled the funeral train of King George VI from King's Lynn, Norfolk to London following his death in February 1952 at Sandringham House, Norfolk. For this task, Britannia had its cab roof painted white, as was the custom with royal locomotives (B2 61617 Ford Castle, which pulled the train from Wolferton Station to King's Lynn, was similarly liveried). Britannia has also worn the white roof in preservation.

Britannia was withdrawn in May 1966, after 15 years of service.

Initially destined for the National Railway Museum because of its cultural significance, it was stored. However, due to her prototype design and construction differences, the NRM chose standard sibling 70013 Oliver Cromwell, instead. Britannia was eventually bought by Britannia Locomotive Company Ltd.

After a series of moves, she arrived on the Severn Valley Railway in April 1971 for restoration to working order. The locomotive was first steamed in May 1978 and was ceremonially renamed by Robert Riddles in the same month. However she was little used on the SVR due to the axle weight being too heavy for the railway at that time. With the society wishing to make more use of the locomotive, she was moved to the European gauge Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, where she was also fitted with an air-brake compressor, and was based there from 1980 to 2000. Britannia made her return to the main line on 27 July 1991, successfully working enthusiast trips until 1997, and was featured in an episode of London's Burning.