Green Arrow

Green Arrow is an LNER Class V2 steam engine preserved as one of the main attractions of the National Railway Museum in York. When his boiler certificate expired in 2008, he was on display at "Locomotion", the National Railway Museum in Shildon.

The Railway Series
Green Arrow was built on 13 June, 1936, for the London and North Eastern Railway at Doncaster Works to a design of Sir Nigel Gresley. He and his brothers were built to pull fast goods trains, but did it so well they were allowed to pull express trains too.

Thomas met Green Arrow after his unusual arrival on the back of a lorry to find him being repaired in the workshop. Thomas would later help Green Arrow double head a railtour train and saved him from a serious accident when a rail from an embankment was undermined. Green Arrow then followed Thomas on the other track and they both brought the railtour train safely back to York.

Personality
Green Arrow is a steam engine with a great sense of hospitality although he can be easily offended when someone criticises his strength. He is the last of his locomotive class, and often mentions of his brothers - who have since all been scrapped.

Real-life history
Green arrow emerged from Doncaster works in June 1936, and during 1943, he was later allocated to 700. However, this never carried and was revised to 800 in April 1946, with the number being applied by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) of November of the same year, later being renumbered again to British Railways 60800 in February 1949.

Green Arrow was withdrawn from service in August 1962 and selected for preservation within the national collection, being restored at Doncaster Works. With work completed in April 1963, it was followed by almost ten years of storage, during which it was moved several times; the engine was moved to Wigston in 1967 - this was intended to be the final temporary home, since it was intended that Green Arrow would become one of the permanent exhibits in a Municipal Museum which was proposed for the nearby city of Leicester. 4771 was on static display awaiting overhaul at the National Railway Museum, while a proposal is being made to have Green Arrow in the currently-proposed Leicester locomotive museum at the Great Central Railway. However, as of 2021, Green Arrow is now based at the new Danum Library, Museum & Gallery in Doncaster, his birthplace.

Preservation
Green Arrow was withdrawn from service in August 1962 and was restored at Doncaster Works, before ten years of storage and being moved around. In 1971, he was selected to be part of the National Railway Museum, then in its planning stages. He was restored to working order in 1973. He would pull rail tours from time to time, but in 2008, was withdrawn from rail tour service. This was because two of his superheated tubes were cracked. These tubes were fixed, but Green Arrow was soon taken away for static display. His boiler was not to expire until mid-late 2008, but it failed shortly after the tubes were repaired. Green Arrow was sent back to York, where he was part of the Flying Scotsman story display inside the National Railway Museum.

Then in February 2021, after residing at Locomotion, a railway museum based in Shildon for a few years, Green Arrow was moved to Doncaster's Danum Library, Museum & Gallery for a three-year loan. As of now, the National Railway Museum have no plans to rule out an overhaul for the engine.

Livery
Green Arrow is painted in the LNER apple green with white and black lining livery. His number (4771) is painted on the side of his cab in yellow and the initials "LNER" are painted on his tender, also in yellow. He has a black nameplate with a white boarder on the sides of his smokebox with his name on them, also in white. His buffer beams are painted red with silver buffers.

Appearances
Railway Series=

The Railway Series

 * Thomas and the Great Railway Show - Trouble on the Line and Thomas and the Railtour

Companion Volumes

 * 1979 - Annual: York's National Railway Museum
 * 1995 - The Thomas the Tank Engine Man
 * 2005 - Sodor: Reading Between the Lines
 * 2007 - Thomas the Tank Engine: The New Collection

Trivia

 * Though never explicitly stated, it is implied that Green Arrow is a cousin of Flying Scotsman, Mallard, Gordon, and Spencer.
 * Green Arrow is the only LNER Class V2 in preservation.