‘Lanky’ tank 752 saddLes up WItH steaM test at buRy
Unique surviving Aspinall 0‑6‑0sT is being reassembled for return to action next year.
Tender and tank versions of the same Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway design could be in steam next year… one in Lancashire and the other in Yorkshire.
While Barton Wright ‘25’ class 0‑6‑0 No. 957 is being reassembled at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway with the aim of a return to steam next year (see story below), Aspinall ‘23’ class 0‑6‑0ST No. 752 is taking shape at the East Lancashire Railway following its own extensive overhaul.
The only survivor of 230 class ‘25s’ rebuilt as saddle tanks by John Aspinall, No. 752 underwent its steam test at Bury on August 12. During a preliminary steaming on August 8, said project volunteer John Sagar, “the whistle was blown at 3.38pm for the first time in nearly 40 years, with 70lbs/sq. in on the clock.”
It had been hoped to carry out the steam test more than a month before – but although a successful hydraulic test had been undertaken on June 20, the first steaming was delayed after it was found that the boiler had been fitted with the incorrect regulator
rod. As the original rod appears to have been lost during the engine’s long‑running overhaul, a new one was made using measurements from No. 957.
Hot on the heels of the boiler being returned to its frames (SR495), No. 752’s saddle tank had been trial‑fitted on July 24, with the chimney being refitted the following day. The saddle tank was taken off for the steam test, which will be followed by the lagging and cladding of the boiler.
A relaunch into traffic for
No. 752 is anticipated in March 2020 – 38 years after it last steamed, at the KWVR in 1982, and approximately 25 years after the current overhaul commenced there.
It saw little use during the 1970s and early 1980s, as it was not fitted with vacuum brakes until late in this period – but it did take part in the ‘Rocket 150’ cavalcade at Bold in 1980.