BAHAMAS – AS YOU WON’T SEE IT AGAIN
As No. 45596 approaches its return to steam, does any reader know the exact date when this (colourised) image was taken?
It’s Bahamas as you won’t see it. Crimson Lake, single chimney, domeless boiler… not even named. The image of an early condition ‘Jubilee’.
When the ‘5XP’ returns to steam – quite possibly within the lifetime of this very Steam Railway issue (though there’s no date as yet) – No. 45596 will, of course, look quite different. With its BR-fitted double chimney that makes it unique, and wearing lined green, it carries over its familiar look from last time out.
Yet Bahamas Locomotive Society Marketing/Publicity Officer John Hillier has had the classic F.R. Hebron black and white shot coloured for a forthcoming book – and thought it might deserve an airing here. In fact, he throws out a poser too: the photograph was taken north of Oxenholme, but can anyone identify precisely when? Rail Archive Stephenson now has the picture, and so Brian Stephenson has been carrying out some research. There are some clues: the engine was delivered in December 1934, but a 10B (Preston) shedplate marks it out as being during the engine’s time there from May 1935 to January 1936. There’s a GWR carriage in the train – which from a 1932 timetable John suggests could have been a through carriage from Plymouth that left at 8.52am, reaching Crewe at 4.10pm and Carlisle at 7.21pm. He says the GWR 1938 timetable and LMS version from the year before confirm the timings, within the listing for the ‘Mid-Day Scot’. Hebron’s notes, John says, indicate that the train was a Liverpool-Glasgow express. The then No. 5596 went back into traffic after naming, by the way, in June 1936.
All this leads to a suggestion that the picture dates from summer 1935. So, can anyone better that?
Jump forward and you can see from the somewhat more up-to-date picture in news – taken by John of his society’s steed at Tyseley on August 1 – that the three-cylinder
Stanier engine really is now in the final stages of reassembly. Painting is expected to start within a couple of weeks as I write. Compared to the last ticket, which ended in 1997 (the final main line trip was in 1994), the chimney is “slightly lower,” but not, John contends, so much that you’d notice.
NONCOMMITTAL
There are no railtour announcements yet: the society’s man confirms that the BLS is maintaining its stance of not making commitments for its ‘Jub’ until “we know we have an engine.” The North British-built locomotive is, however, expected to appear at Tyseley’s open weekend on September 29/30. This year is considered an important one for the society – for as John says,
“it’s 50 years since the end of steam, 50 years since the engine first steamed in preservation, and 50 years since we broke the steam ban, in November.”
That, by the way, was when Bahamas moved from Bury to what was then the new steam centre at Dinting, Glossop.
Once the project to return No. 45596 to steam is finished, it’s expected that this, plus associated activities such as educational work, will have cost around £980,000. Of that, £776,000 is from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the remaining roughly £200,000 having come from the society. That final expected tally is around 8% more than originally envisaged before the project started – partly due to a recent decision to replace No. 45596’s smokebox.
The good news is that John reports that the money is there to finish the job and start
THE MONEY IS THERE TO FINISH THE JOB AND START RUNNING THE LOCOMOTIVE DEBT-FREE
running the locomotive debt-free – but it’ll be no surprise that the society is out to develop its revenue streams.
Indeed, as what he describes as one of the few voluntary groups still running a main line engine, the BLS is keen to raise its profile. In a play on the ticket price for BR’s August 11 1968 trip it is currently offering full membership to new people for the reduced price of 15 guineas (£15.75). That deal gives membership until the end of 2019, saves £14.25 over the normal rate, and is open until October 31 – see www.bahamas45596.co.uk or contact John on 07712 003105 or at jrh@johnhillier.co.uk
Also, as part of a promotion for schemes that have been supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, there’s free entry to Ingrow’s ‘Engine Shed Museum’ in August, if you bring along a lottery ticket.