‘N2’ MAIN LINE DEBUT SLIPS TO AUTUMN
For Easter or summer, read autumn. The Gresley Society’s King’s Cross suburban ‘tankie’ - ‘N2’ No. 1744 - is now expected to move straight to the North Norfolk Railway when work is finished at Tyseley, with a return to the main line only after the Sheringham line’s main season. Gresley Society secretary Graeme Bunker says it’s anticipated that the Great Northern engine will move to the NNR in May, but it will now do that before the electronic ‘gizmos’ essential for main line running are fitted (SR462). “The engine is all but done in terms of the maintenance,” he said on May 3. “We found additional things that needed to be done - and we’ve sorted them out. It’s run pretty much fault-free for six years. “There was nothing particularly serious, just an accumulation of things that needed attending to. The big issue is that we’ve found cracked spokes, which have been ground out and welded; the rest has all been good housekeeping.” Other than mending the spokes on the left-hand leading driving wheel, Graeme says the work has included replacing pads and attending to a scored journal, replacing the main steam pipes, and repainting the top of the boiler barrel. But what about the much-anticipated return to the main line? It was previously hoped that this somewhat sensational debut could take place as early as Easter (SR462), but Graeme says that quite aside from any extra work, it’s the time that would be taken to acquire the currently in-demand electronic equipment that has brought about the shift. “So we’re taking it to the NNR first, and instead of putting it on the main line this summer, it’ll be this autumn. We’re still looking at doing that from Tyseley.” That means the 0-6-2T won’t be part of any Cromer running beforehand. But, says Graeme: “It’ll be back at the NNR for the season in 2018 and obviously there’s the potential for it to go to Cromer and elsewhere. “I think we expect it up there in May. The priority is its commitments to the North Norfolk Railway.”