Engine steams back off scrapheap
THIS is the incredible moment a steam engine that spent 15 years on the scrapheap hauled passengers for the first time in five decades following a £750,000 restoration.
The Standard Four 76084 - dubbed the Lancashire Lazarus - thundered across Greater Manchester on Saturday following its transformation.
The engine was built at Horwich Works in 1957 and was left to rot after 10 years in service.
It was rescued 15 years later by an enthusiast for £7,500.
After several more changes of ownership, it has been brought back to life.
Of the 115 trains of its type, only four survive.
They were built in the 1950s but taken out of service as diesel engines made them obsolete within a decade.
The train will eventually have a permanent new home on the North Norfolk Railway.
The 100-tonne engine, which is 18m long, left Bury at 8.52am and crossed Belmont Bridge before stopping at Stockport station from 9.21am to 9.31am.
It also passed through Davenport at 9.35am, Hazel Grove at 9.40am and New Mills, Marsh Lane, at 9.49am, before reaching Buxton.
Melvin Thorley, a train enthusiast from Offerton in Stockport, was among those watching the engine’s resurrection.
The 69-year-old said: “A few people welled up, it reminded them of times gone by. It was absolutely wonderful seeing it working.
“I saw it at Davenport and there must have been 50 people there, which you never see, even in the week at rush hour.
“I loved it. It has undergone an amazing transformation, it’s quite incredible.
“It could have so easily been left on the scrapheap. It was a dull, drizzly morning.
“But seeing the engine brightened everyone’s day - it lit the place up. Older people and children alike were smiling. It was wonderful.”