North East England during the steam era.
This route is a work in progress.
During the early 1960s, a BR Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 runs tender first as it brings a short goods off the branch from Rothbury and Scots Gap. Despite the passenger service being withdrawn in September 1952 there was sufficient goods traffic remaining to keep the line open. Rothbury station kept a Ford Thames truck at Rothbury to enable it to provide road collection and delivery to the district. Goods services were withdrawn in November 1963.
A photograph in the Middleton Press book about the Morpeth to Bellingham line (incl the Rothbury Branch) shows 46474 at Rothbury, which was quite the catch, since she was allocated to 52B Heaton shed for only three months from October 1960. Sadly, the photograph mistakenly captions the loco as a 4MT 2-6-0! I do not know why the Class 2 was moved on to 52D Tweedmouth in January 1961. Whether she was not suited to the branch or whether the lines in to the Scottish borders had a greater need of the Class 2's strengths. The whole family of Class 2, be they Ivatt Class 2 or BR Standard Class 2 were all seeking homes rather frequently at this time as the traffic they were built for was fast disappearing. The BR Standard Class 2s preserved on the Great Central are well thought of as they are considerably more economical to run on off-peak timetables than larger tender engines but will take a four-coach passenger train without complaint.
As it was, I believe that the 44ft 1 inch wheelbase of the Class 2 was too long for the turntable at Rothbury station. A photograph of a former NER C Class/LNER J21 0-6-0 on the turntable shows it barely fitting, so the longer wheelbase of the Class 2 would have been a no-go. That longer wheelbase issue was shared by the J27 former NER 0-6-0s and they were seen at Rothbury in BR days, so that was not a deal breaker for goods trains.
At the Morpeth end of the branch, the Class 2 is coming off a mile of 1 in 95 in order to bring it to the elevation of Morpeth station. The J27 is standing on a loop line between the branch and the East Coast main line, which tightly curves away to the south on the left. Over the decades several derailments have occurred on that tight curve.
Originally, George Stephenson proposed a line north from Newcastle which would have run further to the east, and at a lower elevation in the vicinity of Alnmouth. However, a landowner objected to the line running between his stately home and the sea, "ruining his view". As a consequence, the route was changed, taking it further inland and at a higher elevation. In the process the county town of Northumberland demanded that the main line passed through. In the preceding plan, Morpeth would have been treated like Northampton on the west coast main line, being served by a loop from the main line.