STATFOLD BARN STARTS ROYAL ARSENAL WOOLWICH OVERHAUL

Work has started on the overhaul of former Royal Arsenal Railway Avonside 0-4-0T Woolwich at the Statfold Barn Railway.

The unique surviving 18in gauge locomotive (Works No. 1748 of 1916) was donated to the Statfold Barn Narrow Gauge Museum Trust – along with ex-RAR Hunslet 0-4-4-0DM Carnegie, five carriages and a gunpowder wagon – by owners Waltham Abbey Gunpowder Mills Company Ltd in late 2019 (SR501), with a view to restoration to working order on Statfold’s 18in gauge line. Woolwich was moved into Statfold’s new museum workshop on August 11, where initial exploratory work is under way.

There is currently no timescale for Woolwich’s return to steam; the locomotive is currently behind Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0 Lautoka No. 11 ‘Fiji’ and Fowler 0-4-2T ‘Saccharine’ in the railway’s overhaul queue, while Bagnall 4-4-0T Isibutu is also due its ‘ten-year’ overhaul this year, so work on Woolwich is progressing ‘as and when’ between other jobs, though SBR spokesman James Gorton said: “We’re very keen to get it running again.”

●● A freshly overhauled Swedish Arn Jung 0-4-0WT was expected to form part of the steam line-up at the Statfold Barn Railway’s open weekend on September 12/13.

Approaching completion at the time of going to press, 1925-built Arn Jung Works No. 3698 has been undergoing contract overhaul by Statfold Engineering Ltd

– on behalf of Sweden’s Risten-Lavik Railway, where the locomotive has been based since 1975 – since arriving at Statfold for repairs in 2018.

JOEY EVANS THOMAS BRIGHT/SR Woolwich’s frames and boiler in storage at Statfold, prior to moving to the museum workshop for overhaul. The largely complete bottom end of Arn Jung 0-4-0WT Works No. 3698, on display at the Statfold Barn Railway’s open day on August 9.