CHURNET WINS BATTLE TO BRING ‘4F’ 44422 ‘HOME’
Former s&D 0‑6‑0 could steam again in 12‑18 months following return to cheddleton.
I NEVER THOUGHT WE’D SEE THE ENGINE BACK HERE AGAIN TONY HANCOCK
Fowler ‘4F’ No. 44422 has returned to its spiritual home at the Churnet Valley Railway after a long absence, following the dissolution of a 25-year hire agreement with the West Somerset Railway – and a battle for legal custody of the engine between directors of the owning company, 44422 Locomotive Co. Ltd, and activists of the CVR’s supporting body, the North Staffordshire Railway Co.
Engine and tender arrived back at Cheddleton on two low-loaders on December 3, amid aspirations that it will become a runner again after bottom end repairs over the next 12-18 months.
The one-time Somerset & Dorset 0-6-0 went to Minehead, following a period on hire to the Nene Valley Railway, becoming the subject of a ‘repair-and-run’ arrangement signed in 2014 which would have kept the Derby-built ‘4F’ in Somerset for a quarter of a century.
WSR directors had undertaken to stand the cost of a heavy general overhaul for No. 44422 in return for unrestricted use of the locomotive, and the engine received a full boiler overhaul, at WSR expense, at Jeremy Hosking’s Crewe locomotive workshops – one of the last external repairs to be undertaken there before the factory closed its doors to all but Hosking’s own locomotives.
In January this year however, the beleaguered West Somerset Railway plc, facing a battle for its own financial survival, announced it was withdrawing from the 25-year agreement, and asked the owners, 44422 Locomotive Co. Ltd, to reclaim its 92-year-old veteran.
However, the company’s three directors, Chris Jefferies, Steve Latham and Phil O’Ryan sought to fast-track shareholders’ approval to allow West Coast Railways chairman David Smith to take ownership and financial responsibility for the ‘4F’.
But, the proposal was fiercely opposed by 44422 Locomotive Co. Ltd co-founder Tony Hancock and by shareholders of the North Staffordshire Railway Co. – the charitable body which supports the CVR.
In mid-May, solicitors acting for NSRC and for Tony Hancock, a former Churnet Valley Railway
Co. chairman, warned the 44422 Locomotive Co. Ltd directors that they would be in breach of company law on several counts, and in conflict with a clause in the group’s original constitution which states that if No. 44422 should ever be considered for disposal, the NSR Co. would have first refusal.
They were also advised that an issue as fundamental as the future ownership of the locomotive could only be determined by an annual or extraordinary general meeting.
An EGM earlier this year saw the trio resign, to be replaced by new directors who are all members and officers of the CVR.
It was a much-relieved Tony Hancock who went to the Churnet
Valley’s Kingsley & Froghall station to see the returning ‘4F’ unloaded, declaring: “I never thought we’d see the engine back here again. The [previous] directors were going to give it away, but we dug in, and now, happily, it is back where it belongs.”
He guesstimated: “It could be a runner again for £30,000-plus. It doesn’t need a major overhaul – the issues are mainly concerned with the wheelsets, which have developed some cracking, and thinning of the tender tank metalwork. We’ll look at replacing the tank – but we may be able to borrow a tender for a period.”
No. 44422 first steamed in 1991, having left Barry scrapyard in 1977.