THERE’s an old saying about ‘carrying coals to Newcastle’, which means doing something pointless and superfluous.
However, FirstGBRailfreight has now thrown it in reverse by winning a new contract to carry thousands of tonnes of coal from the Port of Tyne to Britain’s largest power station at Drax, North Yorkshire.
In response, John Smith, managing director of FirstGBRf, and Matthew Hunt, Port of Tyne’s commercial manager – both lifelong Sunderland AFC supporters – invited the club’s chairman and former Republic of Ireland striker Niall Quinn to name one of its Class 66 locomotives ‘Sunderland’.
The nameplate on locomotive 66725 is in 1930’s style, based on a LNER steam locomotive that took the Sunderland team to Wembley where they beat Preston in the FA Cup Final 70 years ago.
The original 1937 nameplate, now
owned by Tyne & Wear Museums, was brought along to the naming
ceremony at the Port of Tyne quayside
at South Shields.
Niall Quinn said: “Sunderland is a football club that is steeped in tradition and has always had a synergy with local industry.
“Hopefully, this historical link with the victorious 1937 side may bring us that extra bit of luck for the new season.”
And sure enough it did. The very next day Sunderland played their first game after gaining promotion back to the Premiership – and beat Spurs 1-0 with a last-minute goal.