EVENING STAR ( LOOKALI KE)
JOINS WSR ‘S&D’ GALA LIN E-UP
It will, of course, not be the real No. 92220 Evening Star, which famously hauled the last ‘Pines’ over the Mendips on September 8 1962, but its preservation- era alter ego from the Great Central Railway - No. 92214. Re-painted in BR green in 2014, this ‘Spaceship’ temporarily adopted the identity of BR’s last-built steam locomotive in April 2015, and was set to do so again for a Timeline Events charter at the GCR on February 2. The WSR confirms that it is exploring the possibility of keeping it in this guise for the March 5/6 and 10-13 event. One identity swap that is confirmed, however, is the changing of rebuilt ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34053 Sir Keith Park into a ‘West Country’ - No. 34098 Templecombe, a Bournemouth locomotive that was recorded working over the S&D. An ‘official naming’ will take place at 11.30am on March 9 at Bishops Lydeard, after which it will masquerade as the scrapped Bulleid for the second weekend. The event is set to mark the first time that two of the S&D’s famous ‘7F’ 2-8-0s have run together, in authentic BR black livery, since the last examples were withdrawn in 1964. Resident No. 53808 has been steam-tested and is being reassembled at Minehead, while No. 53809 at Butterley is almost ready to move under its own steam, but still requires its main steam pipes fitting. No. 53808 will re-create a small but significant piece of S&D history by demonstrating the surviving Whitaker tablet exchange apparatus at Washford. Other confirmed visitors
A LINED green Ô9FÕ 2-10-0 with all the Swindon trimmings will be seen at the head of the ÔPines ExpressÕ at the West Somerset RailwayÕs Somerset & Dorsetthemed gala in March, commemorating 50 years since the closure of the fondly-remembered crosscountry route.
are ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34070 Manston, ‘4F’ No. 44422, ‘Black Five’ No. 45379 and ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T No. 80072, as well as the Washford-based S&D Trust’s Prussian Blueliveried Peckett 0-4-0ST ‘Kilmersdon’. The latter will operate shuttles over a short distance from Minehead station with S&DJR six-wheel First coach No. 4, the first
time this 1886-built vehicle has carried passengers since it was withdrawn in 1930. For more details, or to book advance tickets, see www.west- somersetrailway.co.uk, or call 01643 704996.