‘T3’: ‘REBUILD NEEDS A BOOST OTHERWISE WORK WILL STALL’
563 Locomotive Group issues call to arms for more support towards £350,000 4-4-0 restoration.
Restoration of unique London & South Western Railway ‘T3’ No. 563 “will temporarily stop” if the project starts to run out of money, says the 563 Locomotive Group spokesman and Swanage Railway trustee Matt McManus.
This warning comes as the group appeals for more support to return the 1893-built Adams 4-4-0 to steam for the first time since 1948, as work on restoring the former National Collection locomotive started in earnest at Bill Parker’s Flour Mill workshops with the removal of the lower firebox wrapper sides in early July (SR495). The public appeal for its restoration was launched in June.
Mr McManus said: “We are getting some fairly hefty bills that we must pay. The frames and boiler will shortly be brought into the workshop, however, work will only go at the pace at which we can pay for it. So, if we start to run out of money, work will temporarily stop. Nobody wants that, but unless we get more supporters on board this is what will happen.”
Mr McManus told Steam Railway in mid-July: “It’s been a slower start
to the appeal than we anticipated, but we’re not disappointed; £3,000 in three weeks isn’t terrible, so we’re not worried yet.
“One-off donations are great, but we need guaranteed cashflow from the monthly donations. It will steam, but when it steams is dependent on money, and the last thing we want is for it to enter service with debt.”
In mid-August, SR requested an updated appeal total. A response was still awaited as this issue went to press.
Mr McManus also said that he was unaware of any further support coming from the project’s initial sponsor Alan Moore, who funded the initial strip-down and assessment of No. 563.
He added: “Over £30,000 has been spent on the copper for the firebox, however we expect to spend this again in forming up the inner firebox. Most of this money has come from our previous round of fundraising.”
Recently discovered cracks in the firebox backhead are expected to be “not too complicated to repair”, but it has emerged that the foundation ring must be replaced, costing a further £3,000. However, the frames and wheelsets “all look OK at the moment” after having been shot-blasted.
Although no decision has been taken on No. 563’s tender, Mr McManus said: “We are in contact with a company that might be doing the tender, however, we will now be stripping the tender using volunteer labour in March/April 2020.
“This will involve moving the tender to Norden and working on stripping the tank off the frames and the frames off the wheelsets. There will then be a significant amount of needle gunning to do on the frames and wheels before we send this kit of parts off to be reassembled.”
To support the appeal, visit http://563locomotivegroup.co.uk.