Record funds raised for ‘Patriot’

A record sum has been raised for ‘Patriot’ The Unknown Warrior in the last 12 months ‑ and all of it has effectively been spent already. With its financial year finishing at the end of March, the LMS Patriot Project was projecting a figure of over £400,000 ‑ a £50,000 improvement over the previous year. Of this, £14,000 was donated in just two weeks during late February ‑ not including a further £6,000 in the same period from regular standing orders ‑ which, with Gift Aid, gives a figure of £25,000 in that fortnight. “And we’ve already committed it!” says Chairman David Bradshaw. “We’re consuming money at a huge rate ‑ and that’s before Crewe start assembling the boiler this year. “So we’re doing very well ‑ but we must continue at this level if it is to be completed by the target date of November 2018. “We’ve bought all the large parts, except the superheater header ‑ but the small stuff is still costly.” One important part that will soon be ordered is the inside radius rod, which is the last piece of the engine’s motion still outstanding. The driving wheelset returned to Llangollen in the first week of March, following machining of the crank axle keyway at the South Devon Railway. To donate to the scheme: www.lms-patriot.org.uk