A Bulleid brought back from the dead?
IT'S easy to consider the practice of preserved locomotives masquerading as long-lost classmates being a modern phenomenon, but the reality is quite different.
Reader David White writes: “In the late 1980s I took this photograph at Margate station. It shows the Merchant Navy 4-6-2 No. 35017
Belgian Marine on a special excursion double-heading with No. 34027
Taw Valley.
“However, No. 35017 had been scrapped over 20 years previously – in 1966. I had a sense of disbelief as this ‘ghost' train drew into platform 3 from the Ramsgate direction.
“It turned out to be a disguised No. 35027 Port Line. Today, such renaming is quite common; a prime recent Bulleid example being No. 34046 Braunton, which masqueraded as No. 34052 Lord Dowding for a while.”
For completeness, Taw Valley is operational at the Severn Valley Railway, while Port Line is now part of the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust fleet and is awaiting overhaul.
Does anyone remember more details about this double-headed charter?