LEEDS-BUILT ‘AUSTERITY’ FOR MIDDLETON ANNIVERSARY
Hunslet to headline ‘Last Coals to Leeds’ event over 60 years after being built in the city.
The Middleton Railway plans to mark 50 years since the closure of the last colliery on the route with a visit by National Coal Board ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST Wimblebury; built just a stone’s throw from the line during 1956.
The ex-Cannock Wood Colliery ‘Austerity’, Hunslet Works No. 3839, has recently returned to action at the Foxfield Railway after axlebox repairs and a repaint into Staffordshire area blue livery. During its first working trip back to Leeds since it was built, Wimblebury is to headline an event intended to be more than just a traditional gala. Taking place over the weekend of September 29/30, the ‘Last Coals to Leeds’ event will mark the 1968 closure of Middleton Broom Colliery. Wimblebury is to represent the large number of NCB locomotives that operated in the Leeds area. It will also be a chance for it to return to Leeds 62 years after it was constructed in the city.
Two members of the resident steam fleet have also been lined up for special roles. Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Slough Estates No. 3 is set to temporarily take on the identity of long-scrapped sister Hudswell Clarke Works No. 1871 of 1954 Blenkinsop, which took part in the bicentenary celebrations of the railway in 1958 when still under National Coal Board ownership. Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST ‘Matthew Murray’ could also take on the guise of sister Forward, which was built in 1906 for the Staveley Coal & Iron Company and finished its working life with the NCB. The transformation of the ‘L class’ machine will take place if time permits.
Trains are set to run approximately hourly throughout the weekend, from 9.30am-5.00pm, with the first steam departure at 10.30am, taking in the Balm Road branch as well as the usual operating line. A demonstration goods working has been scheduled for 12.30pm each day.