City of York No 3 drew crowds as she chuffed into St Helen’s Square. Soon the Lord Mayor of York, no less, was besotted, staring into her lantern and caressing her shiny bodywork.
Coun Keith Hyman even jumped aboard this most impressive working relic of York’s industrial past.
Once part of the city’s fleet of steamrollers, City of York No 3 would retire to the Foss Islands depot after a hard days trundling and squashing.
The present owners, John and Dorothy Knapton and Eric Robinson, have restored her to full glory, even sourcing the original paint colour. Once it was called Chrome Green, Eric said, but these days it’s known as Traffic Green.
Normally she’s kept in a workshop in Leeds but it was time for her to visit a few of the streets she’s flattened in years gone by.
After being photographed a thousand times outside the Mansion House City of York No 3 returned to the National Railway Museum, where she will stay until tomorrow afternoon, Saturday September 8.
