Director class "Butler Henderson", Great Central Railway

Steam locomotive, Great Central Railway, Director class 4-4-0 No 506 "Butler Henderson", designed by J.G.Robinson, built at Gorton in 1920.

Great Central Railway, Director class 4-4-0 No. 506 "Butler Henderson" was built in 1920 at Gorton Railway Works. No. 506 was the first member of the GCR’s Improved Director Class, or Class 11F.

It was named after Capt. The Hon. Eric Brand Butler-Henderson (1884 – 1953) who was elected as the last new Director of the Great Central Railway in 1918. Following tradition, he had one of the railway’s most recent locomotives named after him when it entered service.

In 1923 the Great Central Railway was amalgamated along with other railways to become the London & North Eastern Railway. Butler-Henderson subsequently became one of the Directors of the LNER. Locomotive No.506 was also inherited by the LNER and then by British Railways. It was withdrawn in 1960 and selected for preservation.