Engine gets back on track from ‘death row’
A STEAM engine that spent 15 years on the train equivalent of death row will haul passengers for the first time in five decades after a £750,000 restoration.
The Standard Four 76084 – dubbed the Lancashire Lazarus – will run from Bury, across Greater Manchester to Buxton tomorrow to complete a remarkable comeback.
It was built at Horwich Works in 1957 and spent 10 years in service before being towed away to the scrapyard in 1967.
The train was stuck at the scrapyard for 15 years until it was sold to an enthusiast for £7,500 and after several more ownership changes it has finally been brought back to life.
Melvin Thorley, a train enthusiast from Offerton, will be among those to watch its resurrection be completed and will ‘chase’ the train along its route.
The 69-year-old said: “Train enthusiasts will be amazed to see it again, it is from another era and, in the nicest possible way, a dinosaur.
“It was a wreck so it is astounding that it has been restored, it cost so much for the current owners as it was such a large project as it was just a steel shell.
“This was the last train of its type to come out of service which meant when it came to be scrapped it slipped through the net, it was fate.
“It was basically in ‘death row’ but steel prices had fallen and by the time they got round to scrapping it, the train had nostalgia value and was sold.”
The 100-tonne engine, which is 18m long, will leave Bury at 8.52am and cross Belmont Bridge before stopping at Stockport station from 9.21am to 9.31am.
It will also pass through Davenport at 9.35am, Hazel Grove at 9.40am and New Mills, Marsh Lane, at 9.49am before reaching Buxton.
Of the 115 trains of its type only four survived. They were built in the 1950s but taken out of service as diesel trains made them obsolete.
The train will eventually have a permanent new home on the North Norfolk Railway.
Melvin said: “It’s hard to put your finger on why people are so fascinated by steam trains.
“I think with them moving and steam coming out of them they are closest type of transport to a living animal.”