Other survivingBR4MT2- 6- 4Ts
Initially we found great joy in small victories; when we oiled the doors of the crew lockers and they swung open, it was almost as if we could feel a very faint pulse. So we pressed on, grinding off rust and flaking paint and with no particular plan, we painted ever greater areas of the side tanks, bunker and anything else visible that we could reach. Then a very strange thing happened – people actually liked what we were doing.
“When we asked for donated goods for a gala sales stand, the books and railwayana flooded in and suddenly we were in business.
“It quickly became clear that if we were going to conserve No. 80150 properly, it would be imperative to replace the cab roof and while a temporary cover could probably have been achieved, it would not have been as effective as replacing it with the genuine article. Our supporters thought so too and the cab roof appeal reached its target in only 10 weeks!
“All these locomotives have survived the scrapyard and somehow are still here in the 21st century, so we need to do the best we can for them. They’re a bit like stately homes – while you’re the custodian, you have to do everything you can to hand them over to the next generation in the best possible condition – preferably in working order!”
Asked why No. 80150 is suitable for the MHR, Martin replied: “No. 80150 spent its entire working life in the south of England, being shedded first at Brighton and latterly at Eastleigh. It would have worked on our line many times and Bob Cartwright, still a MidHants driver ( see panel), remembers working the van trains with it from Alresford with the watercress for market.
“For John Uphill, now chief engineer at the Lynton& Barnstaple Railway, it was the first locomotive he ever fired as a lad starting work at Eastleigh, so we have friends who knew this
Of the 15 BR 4MT 2- 6- 4Ts to be preserved, only two members of the class are yet to run in preservation – Nos. 80100 and 80150.
■ No. 80002 Keighley& Worth Valley Railway. Displayed at Oxenhope Exhibition Shed
■ No. 80064 Bluebell Railway. Displayed at Sheffield Park
■ No. 80072 Llangollen Railway. Awaiting overhaul
■ No. 80078 Mid- Norfolk Railway. Operational
■ No. 80079 Severn Valley Railway. Displayed in The Engine House, Highley
■ No. 80080 East Lancashire Railway. Operational
■ No. 80097 East Lancashire Railway. Operational
■ No. 80098 Midland Railway – Butterley. Under overhaul
■ No. 80100 Bluebell Railway. Awaiting restoration from ex- Barry condition.
■ No. 80104 Swanage Railway. Operational
■ No. 80105 Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway. Under overhaul
■ No. 80135 North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Under overhaul
■ No. 80136 North YorkshireMoors Railway. Operational
■ No. 80151 Bluebell Railway. Operational
engine well. We have been a bit cheeky and dubbed it ‘ The Watercress Loco’ but it does actually fit the bill. As coal becomes scarcer and presumably more expensive, I believe that Class 4 locomotives will become ever more valuable to our steam railways.”
PROGRESS
“I won’t deny that coronavirus has interrupted our continuous upward progress – it has disrupted all heritage railway activities throughout the country,” explained Martin. “Therefore, our first priority now is to do everything we can to secure the future of the Mid- Hants Railway; it’s our line and we have to do that first.
“I took a few ‘ lockdown projects’ home, so I’ve been restoring a couple of old gauge glass protectors which were donated by my friends at the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway and a piece of the running board. It’s not much, but
at least the project didn’t stop.
“Once we have reopened, I would hope that working parties on Nos. 80150 and 34058 will resume before the end of summer and we will start looking to buy and make more parts. Being the railway’s least complete locomotive, No. 80150 is well down the repair queue for RopleyWorks, but that doesn’t stop us making and collecting components to make its eventual overhaul as straightforward as possible.
“If the finances were available, it would be great to get the tanks or maybe the bunker repaired off site in the coming years.”
Asked what parts are on the group’s shopping list, Martin replied: “We’ve already raised the money for a new chimney and we had secured the loan of a pattern and found a supplier who could cast it when the lockdown intervened. Therefore, that will be the first item, together with the damper handwheels, which are being cast to complete that assembly. The smokebox door is already on order and we are looking at how to get the various fittings for that. We will in due course need a new smokebox and ring in order to fit it, as the front end of the existing smokebox was badly cut while it was in the scrapyard.
“We really have no idea what became of the smokebox door and ring; maybe someone’s got them in a container somewhere. They may not be in very good condition anyway, so we have a new door on order and are researching how to get the ring done in association with the GloucestershireWarwickshire Railwaybased No. 76077 group, which needs one for its locomotive.”
The cab roof also vanished during the
2- 6- 4T’s time at Barry scrapyard. “We think that some of them were removed to access the boiler cladding to see if there was any asbestos lagging to remove,” said Martin.
“BR was using glass fibre by the mid- 1950s, so they wouldn’t have found any, but the roof was then probably scrapped.
“I would like to get a regulator/ dome cover made too, unless anyone has got one suitable for an 80000/ 75000 locomotive in a container somewhere which we could buy. Other items are being fabricated whenever we can double up with parts for No. 75079, so a new Duplex Valve is on the way and various parts for the regulator assembly, among other things.”
RESOURCES
On that note, Martin was keen to stress his gratitude to other locomotive groups, both on and off theWatercress Line.
“Members of the MHR- based No. 75079 group have taken an interest in what we’re trying to do since day one – their help has been pivotal to the project.
“Our two groups dovetail together well; while we are the noisy self- publicists, they are the quiet skilled engineers!
“So while our campaigning raised the money for the cab roof, it was the skill and patience of the 75079 group which fitted it out with ventilator hatches and made it ready for fitting to the locomotive, which we hope to achieve as soon as possible. The 75079 group continues to do so many good things for our project behind the scenes and we could not possibly do any of this without them.”
Martin added: “The BR Steam Locomotive Owners Group members have also been very helpful to us with drawings and patterns and via themwe have met others who can help us with getting new parts made. In particular, the Toddington Standard group, which manages No. 76077, have been really helpful.
“Towards the end of last summer, the MHRPS asked us to take on SR Rebuilt Battle of Britain Pacific No. 34058 Sir Frederick Pile as a second project for conservation. We made good progress initially until a very wet autumn and winter, followed by the Covid- 19 pandemic put the brakes on our plans. ‘ Sir Fred’ suffered the misfortune of its restoration stalling due to the death of its owner and champion Mike Vout. Mike generously gifted No. 34058 to the MHR and when we are able to, we would like to do the best we can for his old locomotive, which was once a regular performer on the ‘ Atlantic Coast Express’. Like No. 80150, it is a locomotive with bags of potential.”
SUPPORT