‘T3’ third of the way towards target
‘2MT’ 2-6-0 to return to steam at railway where it hauled reopening train in 1978.
Ivatt ‘2MT’ No. 46464 is returning to its first preservation home of the Strathspey Railway for its overhaul to be completed.
Signed on November 20, the agreement between the Strathspey Railway Company and the 2-6-0’s owning group, the Carmyllie Pilot Company, will shortly involve the locomotive moving to Aviemore from its current base adjacent to Bridge of Dun station on the Caledonian Railway.
Nicknamed the ‘Carmyllie Pilot’ because of its regular use on the Carmyllie branch when allocated to Dundee Tay Bridge shed,
No. 46464 was purchased from BR by the late Ian Fraser in 1966. It hauled the Strathspey’s reopening train from Boat of Garten to Aviemore on July 22 1978, but last steamed the following year.
Moved to the Caledonian Railway in 1989, it was dismantled and moved to the Bridge of Dun site in 2002, since when the Carmyllie Pilot Company has been overhauling it with the support of the Fraser family.
Its tender is substantially complete, while the locomotive has received a new smokebox, cab, running plates and repairs to its dragbox. Its boiler has been sent for overhaul at Northern Steam
Engineering, where repairs to the firebox are at an advanced stage.
The Carmyllie group’s volunteers will complete the work at Aviemore with the railway’s assistance, after which the engine will become part of the line’s resident fleet, although the agreement makes provision for it to visit other railways.
The group stated: “This will allow us to achieve completion more quickly than would otherwise have been the case, and we look forward to a long and happy relationship between the CPCo. and SRC.”
The move gives the line a matching pair of Ivatt ‘2MTs’, the other being No. 46512, and strengthens its resident fleet in preparation for the forthcoming extension to Grantown-on-Spey.
The line stated: “With the agreement in place the Strathspey Railway has a very attractive fleet of steam locomotives: RSH ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No. 9, Barclay 0-6-0T No. 17, McIntosh ‘812’ class 0-6-0 No. 828, Stanier Class 5 5025 [expected to steam in 2020], 46464 and 46512. The intention is to have any four out of the six locomotives available for traffic with the other two undergoing periodic overhaul.”
The addition of No. 46464 was first mooted last year, when No. 46512 was temporarily renumbered as its classmate to celebrate the railway’s 40th anniversary (SR482/483).
The CPCo. said: “We were happy to carry out the restoration as an independent group, but have always known that we would need to find a place to reassemble and subsequently operate the locomotive. It was our strong preference that the locomotive should remain in Scotland, both for historical and selfish reasons.
“The CPCo. has enjoyed close co-operation with the Strathspey Railway since we first acquired the locomotive. It has given us much help to locate missing parts, and loaned us tools. We have in turn loaned parts to assist with the operation of 46512. Shortly after the renumbering of 46512 as 46464, the suggestion was made that Aviemore would be a good base for the completed locomotive.”