BAHAMAS FOR MID-HANTS S&D GALA AS ‘7F’ No. 53808 REPORTS FOR DUTY
‘Jubilee’ No. 45596 Bahamas is to visit the Mid-Hants Railway for a Somerset & Dorset-themed gala on October 16-18, alongside new resident ‘7F’ No. 53808.
Owned by the Washford-based Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust, No. 53808 arrived at Alresford on August 27 after a two-day journey from the West Somerset Railway, and will now stay at the ‘Watercress Line’ until its boiler certificate expires in November 2022.
The hire agreement between the trust and WSR plc, which runs until 2030, has been temporarily suspended to allow the ‘7F’ to earn hire fees on the MHR, after the plc admitted that its current financial situation made it unable to fund the Fowler engine’s forthcoming overhaul (SR506).
However, the plc has now stated that it expects the engine to return to the WSR for the overhaul, and that it will seek to raise the necessary funds.
WSR plc director Steve Williams said: “The plc will now focus its efforts on raising funds toward the cost of the overhaul. Our initial indicative target is £228,000 (the SDRT will also be contributing in relation to the period when the locomotive is away from the WSR). The plc board will be examining options for fundraising very shortly and we will be publicising our approach to everybody to help us to secure the funds which will be put into a designated account specifically for this purpose.”
With the ‘7F’ known to need new tyres and a new tender tank, the trust has estimated that the total cost will be between £300,000 and £500,000. Said director Nigel Davies: “If you add the WSR figure to the hire charges earned over the next couple of years you come into the £300,000-£500,000 bracket. The trust realises that overhaul costs are very difficult to predict as it is not possible to envisage the total amount required until the locomotive is completely stripped down, hence the wide range quoted.”
The MHR’s October 16-18 gala has a ‘Pines Express’ theme, with Bahamas and the ‘7F’ working alongside resident Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No. 41312 and BR ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 No. 76017 (both of classes authentic to the S&D), as well as Urie ‘S15’ 4-6-0 No. 506.
‘Jubilees’ worked the Manchester-Bournemouth ‘Pines Express’ as far as Bath Green Park, but were banned from the S&D itself – although one is known to have ventured onto part of the route, when a Bath crew mistakenly took it to bank a train up the 1-in-50 gradient to Combe Down Tunnel.