Jessie steams back into life thanks to Mike
IN THE 1970s, Jessie the steam engine was a forlorn, rusting graffiti-covered hulk of metal that had been left to rot in a Cardiff park.
But nearly 40 years on and it has been lovingly transformed into one of the world’s best-loved locomotives – Thomas the Tank Engine.
And it’s all thanks to the tireless efforts of Cardiff man Mike Pearce, right.
Mike, who inherited a love of steam engines from his dad and uncle who both worked for Great Western Railways, first encountered Jessie as an apprentice at the city’s East Moors Steelworks in the late 1950s. The engine, built in 1937, was one of 18 – nicknamed “Jessies” – used to move materials around the site. Mike left the steelworks. But in 1979, when he was alerted to an advert in the Echo, he and Jessie became reacquainted. The 77-year-old, who now lives in Aberthin, near Cowbridge, said: “When I got home in the evening, I found the previous night’s Echo and it said ‘Steam Engine for sale, apply Cardiff City Council’ and I suddenly realised then it was Jessie.” In the 1960s, East Moors had been moving to diesel and Jessie was the last steam engine left. So they restored it and presented it to the city of Cardiff in 1965 – as a memorial to steam. It was installed in Splott Park’s playground. But by the late 1970s it had become a rusting relic. Determined to save Jessie from the scrapheap, Mike bought it in 1980 for £2,255 – with the money paying for new play equipment in the park.
And so – after getting the engine out of the park with the help of rail tracks and his own Land Rover – began a 23-year labour of love, first at Lydney and then at Llangollen.
“The kids [in the playground] used to use the cab as a toilet,” Mike said. “The first job I did when I prepped it ready for moving was to take a gallon of disinfectant and threw it everywhere!”
The painstaking project was completed on December 29, 2003, when Jessie moved under her own steam for the first time in 38 years.
Dad-of-two Mike said: “When you spend half your life doing something that is your passion it’s pretty exhilarating and it was such a wonderful moment, especially when Jessie pulled the passenger coaches at Llangollen for the first time.”
In the intervening years, Jessie has been painted a variety of colours – black at East Moors, green at Splott Park and maroon under Mike’s transformation.
But since then she has undergone an equally surprising transformation, with a smiley face and blue paintwork as the most famous steam engine – Thomas the Tank Engine.
In a story that could have come straight from the pages of one of the Rev Wilbert Awdry’s books, Mike and Jessie came to the rescue when a Thomas engine sprung a leak shortly before a nine-day event in Llangollen.
After a frantic two-week refit, Jessie took over the iconic role. With permission from the show’s US owners HIT Entertainment, she has been an official Thomas since 2011.
She now journeys around the UK and Europe.
“The reaction is always amazing,” says Mike. “When we go to Holland and Denmark, we transport Thomas on a low loader and people stop and wave as we go past.”
Having moved back to South Wales from Llangollen two years ago, this is the final year that Mike’s engine will run as Thomas, as he now plans to bring the historic engine closer to home, and convert it back to Jessie.
“I look at Jessie as part of my family,” Mike said. “I’ve owned it for 38 years. It’s my youngest child. I’ve owned it longer than the steelworks had it.
“I hope the next owner carries on and keeps it running for future generations.”