Recreating a ‘River’?
One of the biggest missing links in Southern locomotive preservation is a large tank locomotive. None of Maunsell’s ‘W’ class 2-6-4Ts survived – a design which would undoubtedly be useful on Britain’s steam railways – and the group has already rejected the notion of replicating one of Lawson Billinton’s imposing ‘L’ class ‘Baltic’ tanks (see panel, left), so why not recreate one of Maunsell’s most handsome tank engine designs: a ‘River’ 2-6-4T?
Whoever took on such a project wouldn’t even be starting from scratch either, as there is a locomotive already on the Bluebell which would be the ideal basis; indeed, had it not been for the infamous Sevenoaks crash in 1927, it would have been built as a ‘River’ tank: ‘U’ 2-6-0 No. 31618. Furthermore, it wouldn’t be the first Bluebellbased tender engine to be converted into tank form, as ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 No. 78059 is being restored as ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No. 84030, so such a conversion for the ‘U-Boat’ is not inconceivable.
While David says the Bluebell Railway Atlantic Group has never considered doing it, “with my Maunsell Locomotive Society hat on, this was thought of when we started on classmate 31638, as it did not have a tender when bought from Barry. Subsequently, a tender snowplough was purchased so we restored it as a ‘U’.
“No. 31618 would be a more suitable candidate as it was originally ordered as a ‘River’ tank, but the MLS are committed to an overhaul as a ‘U’ as they want to do it fairly quickly.”
While a ‘River’ may not happen any time soon, maybe such an idea should not necessarily be discounted. After all, it’d be a striking – and not to mention very useful – locomotive.