❖ ‘J21’ needs £50k for new tender
Progress on Worsdell 0-6-0 picks up after lockdown easing, but new copper firebox required.
Sole surviving ‘J21’ No. 65033 needs an estimated £50,000 before it can return to steam, to cover the cost of a new tender.
Following the easing of lockdown restrictions, work on the former North Eastern Railway locomotive has resumed at its engineering base at Locomotive Maintenance Services in Loughborough, to where the new tender frame plates were delivered in early July. The frames will then be fitted with what was salvageable from the original tender, such as stretchers, axleboxes and wheelsets, in time for the new tender tank to arrive later in the year.
But, while funding is in place for the restoration of the locomotive, thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Locomotive Conservation & Learning Trust – which owns No. 65033 – needs a further £50,000 for the new tender. Trust chairman Toby Watkins said: “Thanks to the generous support of the Heritage Fund, Arts Council and Ken Hoole Trust, we have started the restoration with gusto but without the final £50,000 in place, there is the risk of work grinding to a halt if we don’t keep up the momentum.”
Since the locomotive’s arrival at LMS in July 2019, the engine has been completely stripped down, revealing the true state of the locomotive and the extra funding required. In addition to needing new locomotive frame plates (SR501), No. 65033 also needs a new copper firebox.
Mr Watkins said: “The need for a complete new inner firebox is usually the sort of news that has locomotive owners and operators reaching for their revolvers to end it all. However, while the need for new frames for both locomotive and tender was the last autumn’s bad news, this work is something that we expected and budgeted for.
“It had been a cause for concern for several years. All previous assessments had suggested that it was in a very poor state of repair and would require either extensive repair or renewal, so it is not a nasty surprise.”
Mr Watkins added: “We have a great range of supporter schemes that are tailored for all people and purses. People like to back a winner and there is no doubt with all the money we’ve raised thus far that we are definitely that. However, the need for a new tender tank and frames is over and above the original estimate and so we need to find that last little bit to deliver a working ‘J21’.
“We were going to launch our big funding push in April and get out and about at all the shows but that clearly hasn’t happened thanks to the pandemic. Once the virus struck, we stood back to allow the various railways to put in appeals for their very survival but now it’s time for us to roll up our sleeves and get that last 5%.”
To support the ‘J21’s’ restoration, the trust has launched the 876 Club and the 1889 Club. For more information, visit: www.lclt.org.uk