Gray Matter: Mayflower shows Oxford rail fans that steam is best

Diesels can be like that. One failed on me a few years ago, leaving the plucky Battle of Britain class Pacific Tangmere to go it alone, without assistance from behind, hauling a huge load of Pullman cars on the climb out of Victoria on an Orient Express jaunt. It was touch and go if she would make it, but she did.

Ditto the B1 No 61306 Mayflower last Wednesday on the reprised Oxford to Kingswear excursion on which many of the autumn's disappointed rail fans travelled. This time it was steam all the way with Edward Thompson's 4-6-0 - one of a 410- strong class of versatile mixed traffic locomotives - in charge of the ten-coach load.

As she laboured up the long, steep incline between Taunton and Wellington, we slowed to near walking pace, the exhaust barking at the sky to the delight of those at the line side who had guessed there would be fireworks.

But the summit cleared, it was downhill all the way to Exeter and a thrilling 75mph race with vehicles beside us for miles on the M5. Next came one of the great experiences of British railway travel, the beach-side sprint through Dawlish and Teignmouth along tracks relayed after extensive damage in last year's flooding.

Huge crowds photographed our progress, waving cheerily from the sea wall. They included many children awestruck by the sight of Mayflower, as I had been aged eight.

Not this Mayflower, in fact, though a member of the same B1 class. The original, named in July 1951, a month before my birth, was No 61379, scrapped during the cull of steam in the early 1960s. The naming ceremony at King's Cross was performed by the US ambassador, celebrating America's special link with Boston, the Lincolnshire port from which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in Mayflower.

Based at the nearby shed of Immingham, 61379 was a near-daily performer on the expresses between Cleethorpes and King's Cross. Immaculately turned out - though in lined black livery rather than the apple green of the present Mayflower - the engine performed admirably with these 12-coach expresses on a demanding schedule that required sprightly running between my home town of Peterborough and the capital.

It is clear from the Internet that some rail buffs take a dim view of the transfer of a locomotive name, but there is plenty of precedent for this.

The preserved Stanier Pacific Duchess of Hamilton, for instance, swapped roles with the class pioneer Coronation for a celebrated appearance across the Atlantic in 1939 at the New York World's Fair, becoming trapped there by the outbreak of the Second World War.

One of the most famous members of the Great Western's Castle class, the royal engine Windsor Castle, was a 'fake' at King George VI's funeral in 1952. Under repair at Swindon, she surrendered her nameplates to Bristol Castle, which persisted in the false identity ever after.

The new Mayflower certainly has distinction enough to deserve a name. She was the final B1 in service, lasting until 1967, after which she was immediately bought for preservation, initially at Steamtown in Carnforth. Recently she returned to the main line for the first time in 20 years, doubtless accounting for the considerable public interest in her activities.

Mayflower's last duty in British Railways service was the haulage of the Hull section of the Yorkshire Pullman, connecting with the main train at Doncaster.

My enthusiasm for the various Pullman trains on the East Coast route knew no bounds in the early 1960s. What glimpses of luxury they provided, with their teak panelling, individual seats, table lamps and liveried staff.

I was delighted to find that Rosemarie, her mother Olive and I were accommodated for last Wednesday's trip, generously financed by Olive, in the one Pullman car of the Steam Dreams train. This is the first-class parlour car Amethyst, built in 1960.

With a fabulous champagne breakfast on the way out, and a five course dinner on return, this has to be the ultimate mode of travel for the steam railway enthusiast.