STALWART SOUTHERN STANIER BOWS OUT AT GCR

After ten years and an estimated 40,000 miles, Southern Railway-built ‘8F’ No. 48624’s boiler certificate expired on July 31.

As a farewell gesture, the Stanier 2-8-0 was rostered for duty at its Great Central Railway base alongside recently overhauled classmate No. 48305 on the weekend of July 27/28.

Returned to steam from Barry scrapyard condition at Peak Rail in May 2009 (initially in fictional LMS red livery) No. 48624 has been at the GCR since 2011, clocking up 35,000 miles on the Loughborough Central-Leicester North line. The estimated total of 40,000 miles includes its brief period at Peak Rail and subsequent visits to other lines, including the East Lancashire and Churnet Valley railways.

Alan Pakes, a director of its owning 48624 Locomotive Company, added that it was the

GCR’s most heavily used engine in 2017, with 89 steaming days.

Its ‘ten-year’ boiler certificate had been due to expire in July 2018, but was extended by a further year, allowing it to take part in last August’s commemoration of 50 years since the end of BR steam.

Mr Pakes paid tribute to its reliability, saying: “The longest time it was out of service was four years ago, when it was re-tubed and repainted – other than that it’s hardly been out of traffic!”

48624 company secretary Simon Hunter added: “The only major failure was a couple of years ago, when one of the pony truck springs broke in Loughborough station and jammed the wheelset – so dragging it back to the shed put flats on the tyres!”

For the locomotive’s forthcoming overhaul, he said: “There’s no definite plan, except that we want the engine to remain here and for the overhaul to be done here.”

Tim Oaks, another of the group’s directors, said: “We’ll take a deep breath before we start stripping it down, but we’ll keep it looking like a locomotive at first – then open Pandora’s Box – the boiler!

“It has been very well looked after, and the reverse osmosis water makes a huge difference.”

Said Mr Pakes: “It was unusual in that it was only ever allocated to Willesden shed, so it had a fairly easy life for an ‘8F’.

“The front firebox lap seams weren’t in fantastic condition – but those on 48305 were worse.”

Having rescued the locomotive from Barry scrapyard in July 1981, the group restored it in the open air at Buxton and Darley Dale until a new shed was built on the site of the former Rowsley depot. The ‘8F’ carries some relics of the former 17D shed, revealed Mr Oaks: “When we cleared the site we found some sand gun castings that had been knocked off engines

in BR days, and a tender guard iron in one of the pits!”