Bo’ness needs £ 100Ktoreturn LNER D49Morayshire to steam

A£ 100,000 appeal to reassemble the sole surviving LNER D49 4- 4- 0 No. 246Morayshire and return it to traffichas been launched byowner the Scottish Railway Preservation Society ( SRPS).

Morayshire, which entered service in 1928, is currently in storage in a dismantled state in the Midlands following its eviction in Februarywith two weeks’notice fromthe Llangollen Railway workshops as part of emergencymeasures to prevent that line’s place fromgoing into administration, as reported in issue 265.

Withdrawn for its 10- year overhaul in 2015, the following year the SRPS agreed a fixed price contract for the job with Llangollen Railway plc, with completion expected in March 2018.

Additional boiler work was agreed and this extended the completion date into 2019, but issues emerged with the price and meeting target dates.“The SRPS have engaged with the Llangollen Railway to understand their proposals around this dispute and how it can be resolved but have also taken legal advice,” said SRPS director and business development committee chairman Andrew Fowler.

The SRPS has in the meantime launched the‘ Back on the Rails’appeal to help fund the completion of Morayshire’s overhaul with work being completed both by contractors and by staff and volunteers at the Bo’ness& Kinneil Railway.

The first step towards a return to steam is to engage a contractor to complete the locomotive to a rolling chassis to make it easier to transport Morayshire back to Bo’ness. This work is likely to focus on the significant repairs required to the engine’s axleboxes and horn guides to allow the locomotive tobewheeled, followedby the hydraulic test of the boiler.

Once complete again, Morayshire will run at Bo’ness and also be made available for hire by other heritage railways.

➜ Single donationsmaybemade by bank transfer byemailing donations@ srps. org. uk or at www. virginmoneygiving. com/ fund/ 246Morayshire– orby sendingachequewithaform downloaded fromwww. srpssteam. comand made payable to payable to the‘ Scottish Railway Preservation Society’to SRPS MorayshireAppeal c/ o Alastair George, 4 BabertonMains Avenue, Edinburgh, EH143EQ.