‘NO FIRM PLANS’ TO OVERHAUL BITTERN AS ‘A4’ MOVES TO MARGATE
Out-of-ticket ‘A4’ No. 4464 Bittern is set to remain in its new home of Kent indefinitely as it awaits its turn in the overhaul queue at Crewe. The Garter blue ‘Pacific’, which last steamed in November 2015, became the first locomotive to be based at Jeremy Hosking’s Locomotive Storage Ltd facility in Margate on June 2, having been transported there by low-loader from its long-time home of Crewe. Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust trustee and Hosking spokesman Peter Greenwood says: “Bittern will remain at Margate until its turn comes to be overhauled. Currently Britannia is the priority, following that will be Blue Peter. No decision has yet been taken as to what will come in [for overhaul] when Blue Peter goes out.” Stored along with its second tender, No. 4464 will be one of up to 30 rail vehicles eventually stabled at the former Hornby factory in Kent. Peter Adds, director of Locomotive Storage Ltd – which acquired the site in February 2017 (SR465) – says: “The composition of the future residents will be determined in due course, but these will be almost certainly be locomotives and heritage passenger rolling stock taken from the Jeremy Hosking collection or those held by the Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust charity. “An exception to this will be seven or eight vehicles displaced from the now closed Electric Railway Museum in Coventry, including the ‘4-SUB’ and Class 503 unit.” Since acquiring the site, LSL has undertaken extensive renovation of the main warehouse, which now features seven storage roads and loading docks to facilitate the loading and unloading of rolling stock. Mr Adds says: “With our main engineering workshops being based at Crewe Diesel Depot, the present intention is that the Margate site will be used purely for long-term storage.” The present Hornby Visitor Centre will remain on site, and there are plans to eventually open up the facility to the public. Mr Adds says: “There have been suggestions that items stored within the warehouse could be made available for public viewing on either an occasional or permanent basis. “Pending a future decision on public access, and the completion of what would then be essential safety measures, the storage facility will remain a secure and private site.”