Steam & Heritage Track Record

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Previous page: DRS No. 66431 stands inside the new Telford International Railfreight Park on February 10 as part of gauging trials prior to complex opening in May. BOB SWEET

COMPILED BY Royal Scot goes to Crewe as bill approaches £1million BRESSINGHAM’S LMS 7P 4-6-0 No. 6100 Royal Scot left Southall on February 5 aboard a road transporter heading for Crewe. In announcing the surprise move, Bressingham Steam Museum trustees referred to, “a very generous offer of assistance from Pete Waterman and the Waterman Heritage Railway Trust” as a solution to meeting deadlines and overcoming resource problems. Work to be fi nished at the Crewe workshops of the London & North Western Railway Company encompasses

reducing the height of the dome, fi tting a spark arrester, testing the air-braking system, fi tting TPWS/OTMR and applying the full livery. In February, Bressingham g.m. Howard Stephens told The RM that the intention was for Royal Scot to be completed, including application of full livery (crimson lake was already being applied to the tender on February 9) in time to visit the WSR’s late-March Spring gala. It would then clock up miles over the WSR to ‘bed down’, then OTMR would be fi tted for the loco to commence main line trials.

The plaque on No. 6100 reveals the fi nancial strain in getting it completed. KEITH LANGSTONE

Completing the 7P and returning it to the main line is now well behind projected schedules and Bressingham is under pressure from the HLF to secure clearance from the vehicle acceptance body and get it running on the main line.

Moreover, with Bressingham conceding a need to generate income, it appears there is a signifi cant issue concerning available money. The original estimate for the overhaul of Royal Scot was £360,000. With completion more than three years behind original projections, the cost is now approaching £1million. After selling two traction engines to raise cash, Bressingham has taken out a bank loan to fi nance completion of the loco, which now carries a plate reading, “This locomotive is mortgaged to Lloyds TSB Bank PLC”.

Whitsun debut for ex-Barry 8F at Peak Rail THE 48624 Locomotive Company Ltd’s 8F No. 48624 will make its public debut on May 23-25, hauling Peak Rail trains. Final details in the restoration of the ex-Barry loco have taken a little longer than anticipated and it misses its hoped-for Easter debut. The 1943-built loco arrived at Barry in 1965 and left in July 1981. Restoration at Peak Rail has been undertaken in the open, until its late-December move inside Peak Rail’s Rowsley South shed for fi nal completion. Sharing duties with the 8F during the three days of steam operation, during which special fares will apply, will be Peak Rail’s 0-6-0ST No. WD150 Royal Pioneer.

6695 heads for SDR gala GWR 0-6-2T No. 6695 will visit the South Devon Railway’s April 5-13 gala. A celebration of the 40th anniversary of the return of passenger services to the Buckfastleigh-Totnes line (RM Feb), the visit of a GWR 0-6-2T provides a double celebration, heralding approval of the SDR’s increased axle weight limit. This will be the fi rst time this type of loco has run on the SDR. No. 6695 will return to the Swanage Railway after the SDR gala.

Bressingham’s No. 6100 Royal Scot, in undercoat, at L&NWR Crewe shortly after being unloaded following its move from Southall. KEITH LANGSTON

Loco to be unveiled at WSR Spring Gala

THE West Somerset Railway appears to have inadvertently landed an extra coup with the booking of Bressingham’s LMS 4-6-0 No. 6100 Royal Scot for its March 21-22 and 26-29 ‘Memories of the Big Four’ Spring Steam Gala (RM Feb). When arranged, it was

assumed the 7P would already have undertaken its main line debut following overhaul. Now, because of delays (see story above), it looks as though the gala appearance will herald the public unveiling of the completed loco in full LMS livery. The WSR aims to hire an

additional carriage set for the gala. This, with the WSR’s own fl eet, would enable four eightvehicle sets to be used thus avoiding possible problems with overcrowding on trains. The West Somerset Railway has set a target of 9,000 passengers during the event –

505 more than last year’s event and about 1,500 less than the record 10,529 carried in 2007. As The Railway Magazine closed for press, the loco lineup for the gala appeared unchanged from details published last month.

Lord Nelson arrives at Mid-Hants by road

NRM-owned No. 850 Lord Nelson arrived by road at the Mid-Hants Railway (MHR) on February 10, following conclusion of the anticipated new operating agreement (RM Feb) between the MHR, NRM and Eastleigh Railway Preservation Society. So No. 850 is confi rmed as

the central attraction for the MHR’s March 13-15 spring steam gala. Although the boiler ticket of John Jones’ MHR-based LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-2T No. 41312 expired in early-February, an extension will be sought. If granted, the 2MT will appear at the gala with the

pair of visitors from the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre – Beattie 2-4-0WT No. 30585 and Metropolitan Railway E Class 0-4-4T No. 1. Even with the addition of No. 41312, the original tank loco theme for the event has been dropped in view of the prestigious attraction

represented by Lord Nelson. Other MHR locos could also feature, including rebuilt ‘West Country’ No. 34007 Wadebridge and/or BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 No. 73096. The MHR had a great start to 2009 with the busiest January for passengers in the last fi ve years.

60 • The Railway Magazine • April 2009 Have you a story for us? Email: railway@ipcmedia.com or fax 020 3148 8521

VoGRC moves locos from Barry and joins up with Garw Valley

THE Vale of Glamorgan Railway Company (VoGRC) has announced its ‘relocation’ to the Garw Valley Railway – a possibility unveiled in The RM (March). After The RM outlined the doubt surrounding 2009 operations on the Barry Island Steam Railway, locos under the aegis of the previous operator – the Vale of Glamorgan Railway – moved away from Barry. Road transporter moves between January 17-19 saw two diesels (D9521 and Hunslet 0-4-0DM 6688/1968) and a van move to the Dean Forest Railway, D8137 to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway and Hunslet 0-6-0ST Pamela (3840/1956) to the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway for

a period on hire. Other stock is likely to be sold. Next came confi rmation that negotiations had been concluded whereby the VoGRC would retain its identity while based at Pontycymmer, near Bridgend. As revealed in The RM (Mar), Vale of Glamorgan Council issued VoGRC (which operated the railway at Barry for 14 years) with a notice to quit by January 16 to give its new operator, Cambrian Transport Ltd (CTL), vacant possession. With the departure of the locos, it became clear that the heritage railway element of the operation (see separate story concerning other CTL projects) would not be undertaken by VoGRC on behalf of CTL. In mid

February, a CTL spokesman confi rmed negotiations with VoGRC were no longer in progress, but they were talking to local volunteers on an individual basis. However, with stock (understood to be privately owned) still on the site, CTL had yet to be handed vacant possession by Vale of Glamorgan Council. CTL felt unable to pursue options for operating the railway until it had the keys to the site. CTL has an operational ‘Gatwick rake’ with a Class 73 electro-diesel on-site, which has previously run over part of the railway, although the loco cannot traverse the Causeway section to Barry Island station. The RM understands

preliminary talks with owners of suitable locos have occurred, but it remains to be confi rmed whether, and how, trains will run in 2009. The Garw Valley Railway centres on the former Pontycymmer to Tondu branch. Closed to passengers in 1953 and freight in 1997, after being cut back to Pontycymmer, most of the single line track remained in place. The GVR aims to restore trains to fi ve miles of line with sites for potential stations at Pontycymmer, Pontyrhyl, Llangeinor and Brynmenyn. Initial operation is likely to be undertaken by a DMU between Pontycymmer and Llangeinor with opening of passenger services possible by the end of this year.

IoWSR seeks HLF backing for storage

THE Isle of Wight Steam Railway is awaiting the outcome of its December ‘pre-application’ to the HLF for a grant towards construction of a rolling stock storage facility in Griffi ns Field, adjacent to its Havenstreet HQ. The IoWSR is seeking 80 per cent of the cost of the building and related track, a project expected to cost £815,000. The appeal launched in 2006 has raised £71,000 towards its £163,000 match-funding target, although part of the line’s contribution would be volunteer labour. The projected 75x25 metre building, a two-bay pitched roof structure with a central dividing fi rewall, will be an ‘off the peg’ agricultural barn comprising a steel portal frame clad by plasticcoated steel. It will have four roads, each accommodating the equivalent of four bogie coaches, and house restored locos, carriages and wagons. The IoWSR’s latest carriage restoration, LCDR four-wheeled composite No. 6378, is virtually complete at Havenstreet. Progress is also being made on LB&SC brake third No. 4168, which now has its internal compartments and is receiving external paint.

DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW . . . Gresley A4 No. 60019 Bittern storms through Chawton Woods amid snow covered ground with a Mid-Hants Railway service on February 8. MATT ALLEN

Last Doncaster 8F to survive after all?

CAMBRIAN Transport Ltd has unveiled a plan to bring Stanier 8F 2-8-0 No. 48518 back from the dead. Built in September 1944 and withdrawn in July 1965, No. 48518 arrived at Barry scrapyard in October 1965 and remained until July 1981. However, its salvation appeared illusory for it became one of the ‘Barry Ten’, a collection of locos saved from scrapping and in the care of a local authority, but with

doubt concerning their future. Its fate appeared sealed when it was dismantled at the Llangollen Railway in January 2008: the boiler to go to the Great Western Society’s re-creation of a Hawksworth ‘County’ No. 1014 County of Glamorgan and other components for incorporation in the new-build LMS 4-6-0 ‘Patriot’ project. However, as The RM (March 2008) observed, the frames of No. 48518 remained and thus

the last-surviving Doncasterbuilt 8F – technically and offi cially – still existed. John Buxton, of Cambrian Transport, says he understands that the frames (currently in the custody of the Great Western Society) could be made available for a revival to be undertaken at the Barry workshops leased from Vale of Glamorgan Council by CTL. Central to the plan is the projected repatriation of 8Fs that survive in Turkey, a

project being led by the Churchill 8F Locomotive Group. A Turkish 8F could donate suffi cient parts to the original frames of No. 48518 to resurrect it. Authenticity should not be an issue; parts (including motion, boilers and tenders) were ‘swapped’ between locos in their service days and the restoration of many, if not most, ex-Barry wrecks has involved utilising components from other locos.

50 locos for ‘Steel, Steam & Stars II’

THE published line-up of 11 locos for the Betton Grange Society’s April 17-25 ‘Steel, Steam & Stars II’ gala (RM Nov 2008) could rise to 12 with confi rmation of an ‘LMS main line’ visitor – thought to be Leander – anticipated as this issue of The RM went to press. In addition to the standard gauge stars, some 40 model and miniature locos, on tracks of six different gauges (2ft, 15in plus the model gauges of 3½in, 5in, 7¼in and 10¼in) will be concentrated at Glyndyfrdwy station, with the event also featuring roadworthy traction engines and a steam lorry. Following up the fi rst ‘Steel, Steam, & Stars’ event two years ago, ‘Steel, Steam & Stars II’ aims to raise funds towards the construction of ‘Grange’ No. 6880 by the Betton Grange Society.

April 2009 • The Railway Magazine • 61