MSLR ‘CLASS 2’/LNER ‘D7’ 4-4-0 No. 567
Group: The GCR 567 Locomotive Group
Project launched: 2011 Project cost: £400,000
Raised to date: £100,000 Estimated completion date: 2023 Number of supporters: 150
Location: Great Central Railway (Nottingham) To run: Preserved lines only
Mission statement: “To build an all-new Victorian locomotive for use on today’s preserved steam railways.” It is regrettable that only two Great Central Railway locomotives are preserved in Britain – ‘O4’ No. 63601 and ‘Improved Director’ No. 506 Butler-Henderson – but of all the GCR locomotives to resurrect, why choose a ‘Class 2’ which, strictly speaking, is actually a Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway design?
The class is believed to be the one depicted on the GCR’s crest and, says GCR 567 Locomotive Group Chairman Andrew Horrocks-Taylor: “The availability of an original GCR tender that otherwise would have gone to scrap told myself and [Chief Engineer] Mike Fairburn that it was ‘now or never’.
“There are very few operational locomotives from the late Victorian era, and even fewer operational passenger locomotives. To recreate a Victorian main line express locomotive on the last Victorian main line – and on one of the lines where No. 567 would have operated – was too good an opportunity to miss.
“It should be an economic locomotive to operate and should have 40 to 50 years’ life before major boiler work and heavy overhaul. Our group already has a base at the line from which it will operate, and strong financial support.”
The £400,000 estimate seems low for a new-build project, particularly as other schemes – even those not intended for main line running – quote costs well north of £1 million, so is that figure realistic?
The group is confident that it is, and is making use of the cylinder block and inside motion from a 1950s-built Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn 0-6-0ST (the prototype ‘Class 2’ was built by RSH constituent Kitson & Co., albeit in 1887). It is also contemplating using an ‘Austerity’ boiler as “our simple, saturated boiler is near identical to one for an ‘Austerity’, with the dome only about 1½in out of position.”
“The firebox would be steel, unless we have a supporter prepared to fund the likely £15k to £30k difference for a copper ’box. We feel a boiler made with steel to a grade with properties equivalent to that used in 1950s boiler design would last four to five overhauls before replacement.
“We’d be open to putting a batch order into one of a number of potential boiler-makers if other ‘Austerity’ owners were interested.”
Progress has been slow so far, but the frame plates were assembled last month, meaning No. 567 now officially exists.
Andrew says: “In three years’ time, we want to build up to footplate level, with the cylinder block cleaned up and fitted. A rolling chassis is achievable in five years with a new bogie truck, but progress needs to speed up.”
Progress also needs to accelerate if the locomotive is to be completed by the group’s target of 2023 but, says Andrew: “The reality is we will likely push a little beyond that.”
Indeed, at the current rate of income (£14,285 per annum on average since the project’s launch in 2011), it will take a further 21 years to complete No. 567, assuming that its budget is accurate.
Andrew says: “Despite having our most significant purchase to date this year, we still have a surplus of over £30,000 available to spend. We intend to raise £10,000 this year, as we did last year. Fund-raising will ramp up from 2020 as we move to the more expensive purchases of the wheelsets and boiler.”
Despite the fact that it will run on Britain’s only preserved main line, the ‘Class 2’ will not be venturing onto the national network because “the business case does not support the significant additional expense of main line running,” says Andrew. “Hauling ten-plus coaches over Shap would never work for this locomotive.”
Compared to many other new-build projects, the fact that the group has raised a quarter of its budget in a relatively short space of time is an achievement, and does it really matter if No. 567 takes longer to complete than originally intended? That’s what happened to Tornado, but do we regard the ‘A1’ as anything other than an achievement, despite the over-run? Invariably, no.
But here we return to the credibility of the £400,000 estimate. Even using a number of existing components, that sum is far lower than any other standard gauge new-build project.
While the group can conduct much of the engineering work in-house, building the boiler will inevitably have to be done by contractors, and Richard Elliott from South Devon Railway Engineering Ltd quotes a cost in the region of £350,000-380,000 for a simple parallel boiler with a copper firebox, which is nearly as much as the cost for the entire engine.
He says: “£400,000 would be very cheap for a whole locomotive when you consider all the other costs associated with doing a scratchbuild job – the wheels alone could be upwards of £100,000 for starters. Batch-building might enable the costs to be brought down, and a steel ’box would be cheaper.”
The project’s modest intentions and its affirmation not to take No. 567 on the main line should be applauded, but the GCR ‘Class 2’ has a way to go before it passes the credibility threshold.
One to watch nonetheless.