INDUSTRIAL ROSTER 2018
Quartet of ‘Austerities’ will return to steam in the class’ 75th anniversary year.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0STs appearing from the workshops of Hunslet and various other builders. It is appropriate then that four preserved examples are on the list of industrial locomotives expected back in traffic during the year, following overhaul. Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Works No. 7098: Tanfield Railway-based National Coal Board No. 49 will itself be celebrating 75 years when it returns to steam after extensive boiler repairs. The boiler of the ex-Backworth Colliery, Northumberland, locomotive is receiving a new inner firebox and heavy repairs to the outer firebox at Israel Newton & Sons, in Derbyshire where, by early December, work had reached the stage of fitting firebox stays. A new ashpan has already been fabricated at Tanfield. Hunslet Works No. 3193, ‘Norfolk Regiment’: Now in the final stages of overhaul, this 1944-built machine moved on November 28 from a private site in Yaxham, Norfolk, to Bressingham Steam Museum for final fettling and testing. Running-in will take place there in early 2018, and its owner, Norfolk Heritage Steam Railway Ltd, has received a number of expressions of interest for hire. The ex-Lavender Line locomotive is expected to be finished in the black livery it carried when working on the Cairnryan Military Railway in Stranraer during 1952. Bagnall Works No. 2766, WD No. 75178: With extended test runs under its belt (SR474) this ex-Maesteg Colliery engine is also expected to appear on the hire circuit during the next 12 months. The 1944-built machine has been restored at the Bodmin & Wenford Railway by the Cornish Steam Locomotive Preservation Society. Hunslet Works No. 3155 ‘Walkden’: After a relatively short period out of action, Ribble Steam Railway-based ‘Walkden’ is expected back in steam during 2018 following boiler repairs. It was last seen in operation just two years ago at the Spa Valley Railway. A rarity among surviving ‘Austerities’ in the UK, ‘Walkden’ spent almost all of its commercial career on the continent, as intended. Originally designated as WD No. 75105, it ended up working for Netherlands State Railways and remained in use in that country until the 1970s. Hunslet 0-6-0ST Works No. 3855 Glasshoughton No. 4: Not an ‘Austerity’, but a product of the same drawing office, this 16in-cylindered locomotive is edging closer to the completion of a long restoration at the Ribble Steam Railway. 1954-built Glasshoughton No. 4 last steamed in the mid-1990s, visiting railways including the Pontypool & Blaenavon and Foxfield, and arrived at Preston in 2006. Andrew Barclay 0-6-0ST Works No. 1833 Niddrie: Though once a candidate for conversion to oil-firing at the Strathspey Railway, this 1924-built locomotive has never steamed in preservation. It is undergoing extensive work at the Ribble Steam Railway, with boiler work being done predominantly in-house, while new axleboxes have recently been cast and are also being machined in-house. Peckett 0-6-0ST Works No. 1636 Fonmon: With well equipped, modern workshop facilities, it is perhaps hardly surprising that the Ribble Steam Railway features so strongly in this list. This 1924-built Peckett is a fairly recent addition to the huge collection in Preston, but having last steamed at the Spa Valley Railway as recently as 2009 at the end of its boiler ticket, a speedy return to steam does not seem unlikely. There are hopes that this could take place during 2018 too. Bagnall 0-6-0ST Works No. 2994 Vulcan: A return to steam for this hightech locomotive could be one of the industrial highlights of 2018. Volunteers at the North Tyneside Steam Railway are steadily completing work on the chassis of the 1950-built machine, with the wheelsets having recently received new tyres and work on the axleboxes well under way. A few hundred miles south, at the North Norfolk Railway, the boiler of the ex-Steel Company of Wales employee has passed steam and hydraulic tests following the fitting of a new firebox. Sentinel 0-4-0VBT No. 68153: A difficult one to categorise, but No. 68153 does appear in Industrial Railway Society listings because of its departmental role for British Railways in Darlington. The nowunique ‘Y1’ class locomotive is approaching the end of its overhaul at the Middleton Railway following boiler work, and is expected to emerge from the workshops in 2018. Rather unkindly referred to by some as the ‘potting shed’, No. 68153 will become the smallest standard gauge ex-BR steam locomotive in passenger service.