Ribblehead viaduct is just over the border from Cumbria into North Yorkshire, but as the most impressive structure on the Settle-Carlisle Railway, it is included here. Hundreds of railway builders (“navvies”) lost their lives building the line, from a combination of accidents, fights, and smallpox outbreaks. In particular, building the Ribblehead (then Batty Moss) viaduct, with its 24 massive stone arches 104 feet (32 metres) above the moor, caused such loss of life that the railway paid for an expansion of the local graveyard.

5699 (see video's) was built at Crewe in April 1936 and named Galatea after HMS Galatea, After nationalisation in 1948, it was renumbered 45699 by British Railways. On 16 August 1953, Galatea was derailed whilst hauling a passenger train at Wilnecote. The derailment was caused by a combination of defects on the locomotive itself, and the condition of the track. Despite the locomotive ending up on its side, only 2 people were reported injured and it was hardly damaged.

After being withdrawn in 1964 it was stored at Eastleigh Works in December 1964 and remained there until January of the following year when it was moved by rail to Barry Scrapyard, Galatea was rescued in 1980 from Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales by the late Brian Oliver and was moved to The Severn Valley Railway originally to provide a spare boiler for preserved sister engine 45690 Leander. 45699 was at Tyseley until 2002 when it was sold to the West Coast Railway Company and moved to Steamtown Carnforth where it was given a complete rebuild. This also included the manufacturing of a new middle driving wheel after the original was cut through after a shunting accident at Barry Island.  It made a return to steam in April 2013 on test runs around the Hellifield circle. When 45699 emerged on its first test run it was wearing the identity of its fellow class member No. 5690 Leander. Galatea made its railtour debut on 19 May 2013 working a private charter from King's Lynn to Norwich.  It is now operational on the main line running steam specials, and as of 2014 is in British Railways Crimson livery.

The BR Standard Class 8 was a class of 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles for use by British Railways. Only the prototype was constructed, which was named Duke of Gloucester. Constructed at Crewe Works in 1954, the Duke, as it is popularly known, was a replacement for the destroyed Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, which was involved in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail disaster of 1952. The Duke was based on the BR Standard Class 7 Britannia design. It incorporated three sets of modified Caprotti valve gear, relatively new to British locomotive engineering and more efficient than Walschaerts or Stephenson valve gear. The Duke was regarded as a failure by locomotive crews due to its poor steaming characteristics and its heavy fuel consumption. Trials undertaken by British Railways also returned negative feedback, reporting problems with the poor draughting of the locomotive which resulted in difficulty adhering to the timetables. The result was an operational period of only eight years. This unique locomotive was saved from being scrapped at Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, when it was purchased by a group of railway enthusiasts who restored it from scrapyard to as-built condition in 13 years. Since then, modifications have been made to the original design, resulting in one of the most efficient and powerful steam locomotives ever to run in Britain. As a result the Duke of Gloucester can frequently be seen on the mainline around Britain.

92220 was the only Class 9F to be named (and liveried in lined passenger express brunswick green) when running with BR, although others have subsequently been named in preservation; the name Evening Star was chosen following a competition run in 1959-60 by the BR Western Region Staff Magazine. There were three competition winners, Driver T.M. Phillips (Aberystwyth), Boilermaker J.S. Sathi (Old Oak Common) and F.L. Pugh (Paddington), who had all suggested Evening Star.The name Evening Star had been used twice before on GWR locomotives: one of the early Star class broad gauge locomotives built in 1839 was named Morning Star, and a subsequent member of the same class was named Evening Star; and a locomotive of the four-cylinder 4000 class which was built in 1907 was also named Evening Star. A special commemorative plate was affixed below the nameplate on the smoke deflectors. 

Earl Bathurst is a preserved Castle class locomotive. The locomotive is run by the Didcot Railway Centre. It was originally built as Drysllwyn Castle in May 1936. Its first shed allocation was Swansea Landore. Renamed Earl Bathurst in August 1937; the name coming from a de-named GWR Dukedog Class. It was moved to Neath shed in April 1961 before its final move to Llanelly in February 1963. It was withdrawn May 1963 after completing 1,300,000 miles. It was acquired by Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales in October 1963. The locomotive was bought by John Mynors from the scrap yard and was sold following his death. It was repainted into BR livery but has now been withdrawn due to the expiry of its boiler certificate. It is unlikely to be overhauled for a while due to the current overhauls of 4079 Pendennis Castle and 6023 King Edward II that will provide the centre with two GWR express locomotives in traffic.