Change of heart sees Hosking 9F overhauled at Llangollen

JEREMY Hosking’s BR Standard 9F 2-10-0 No. 92212 – which had been destined for static display in his new museum at Margate – is instead to be overhauled to running order in the Llangollen Railway workshops.

Inside there, it will take the place of LNER D49 4-4-0 No. 246 Morayshire which custodian the Scottish Railway Preservation Society took back before its contract overhaul was completed, as outlined last issue.

Built at Swindon Works in 1959, this veteran of the iron-ore trains from Oxfordshire to South Wales spent the 1961 summer season hauling holiday expresses over the Somerset & Dorset Railway line. In July 1962, it was transferred to Tyseley to haul heavy freights through the West Midlands. It survived into the last years of BR main line steam haulage, being withdrawn from Carnforth in January 1968.

Purchased by 9222 Holdings Ltd, it arrived at Barry scrapyard in September 1968 and 11 years later became the 105th locomotive to be bought from Dai Woodham for preservation purposes. It was restored to running order at the Great Central Railway, where it ran in traffic for many years. No. 92212 was withdrawn from Mid-hants Railway traffic at the end of its boiler certificate on December 30, as highlighted in issue 263.

Operational future

It was earmarked for a place in The One:one Collection museum, which has been set up in the iconic former Hornby factory at Margate.

However, Locomotive Services Ltd spokesman Peter Greenwood said that Jeremy had a change of heart when the space in the Llangollen workshops came up.

He said that it will be overhauled to running order, once the workshop reopens after its current closure because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have not yet made a decision as to where it will go once it is back in running order,” he said.

The first of five new boilers built by the Severn Valley Railway for the Isle of Man Railway (IOM) was steamed in Bridgnorth yard on March 7. This follows delays caused by an issue with the dome base design, which has now been rectified, meaning that two of the new-build boilers have been completed simultaneously rather than sequentially. The boilers, which will replace life-expired boilers in the Iom’s fleet of Beyer Peacock 2-4-0Ts – originally built in the late 1800s – will first be fitted to No. 11 Maitland, whose bottom end overhaul is almost complete at Alan Keefe Ltd’s works at Ross-on-wye and go direct to Douglas for fitting to either No. 10 G.H. Wood or No. 12 Hutchison. The third boiler is also due for completion later this year and will be fitted to the other of No. 10 or 12, while the other two are on schedule for completion next year. PAUL APPLETON