Setting Standards at Loughborough: ‘Forgotten’ 4MT progress despite lockdown
IN THE workshops of Locomotive Maintenance Services (LMS) at Loughborough, work has continued to slowly progress on the frames of BR Standard 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76077 in spite of the pandemic lockdown while several new components – including the chimney and smokebox door – have been manufactured.
This is the ‘forgotten Standard’ which arrived for restoration at Toddington in May 1987, having been purchased by Chris Hinton.
The locomotive was in a sorry state; as a late departure from Barry scrapyard in South Wales, much had been cannibalised for use on other locomotives – or components simply disappeared.
For example, the tender, motion and smokebox door were acquired for sister No. 76017 which left Barry more than a decade earlier in January 1974. After dismantling and some restoration, work ceased for various reasons and the locomotive’s components were loaded on to wagons and stored out of public view for the next 30 years.
Obtaining and manufacturing parts has therefore been a major undertaking and significant progress has been made by Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited (TSLL), the current owning company. After being extracted from storage, the major components were shotblasted and while the boiler remains at Toddington, the wheelsets were sent to the South Devon Railway for profiling and for machining of the journals and cranks while the frames went straight to LMS.
Components
Since then, a huge amount of new platework has been installed, including a complete new fabricated rear dragbox. Meanwhile, a component sponsorship scheme has been hugely successful.
TSLL chairman Chris Irving said: “This imaginative scheme has resulted in everything from the builder’s plates to the smokebox door and the chimney being sponsored, including a host of other items large and small. There still remain components – or shares of particularly costly components (such as the reverser gearbox) – available while we continue to add more. You can find details on our website www. standard76077.com.”
It was hoped that by now the frames would have been reunited with the wheelsets for the first time in 33 years. That was originally scheduled to have happened by Christmas, but the lockdowns dashed that ambition as voluntary working parties have had to be suspended. However, rewheeling was due to take place imminently.
Time is one of the most important and costly aspects of any locomotive restoration when expert professional support is sought – in this case, thanks to the considerable skills offered by LMS. For that reason, TSLL is keen to recruit as many new shareholders as possible, contributing a minimum of £10 per month. That way, a steady stream of income goes into the restoration and, clearly, the more time that is bought the more quickly the restoration can be completed.
Andrew Meredith, the very experienced engineering director of TSLL and also a member of LMS staff, said: “That this is a really worthwhile restoration project is without question. Yes, there are already three other Standard 4 2-6-0s restored and successfully thrilling those who see and travel behind them: No. 76017, which spent its BR life on the Southern Region is on the Mid-Hants; No. 76079 (which carries No. 76077’s original boiler) at the North Norfolk Railway and No. 76084 on the North Yorkshire Moors – the latter two of which were shedmates of No. 76077 at Sutton Oak and latterly Springs Branch. I for one would love to reunite the three in years to come!”
Boiler
He said that the boiler is the single most costly component to overhaul.
“We are planning to invite the boiler inspector to Toddington later this year so that we can fully assess the work necessary to return it to steam,” Andrew added.
“It is one of the earliest of the Standard 4 boilers and has been on two members of the class before. It was first fitted to No. 76007 in 1951, and then in 1958 was transferred to No. 76012 at Eastleigh. When No. 76077 arrived at Eastleigh in January 1964 for its one and only general overhaul, it received that boiler, while its own was fitted to No. 76079, which followed No. 76077 through the works. That explains the large number of copper firebox stays – the originals were of monel metal.”
The success of the operational engines underlines the usefulness of the Standard 4MT 2-6-0 as a heritage locomotive. They are economical, efficient, easy to maintain, much liked by footplate crews and more powerful than first sight might suggest – indeed, all the qualities sought in their original design.
Above all, unlike many other current projects, particularly new builds, the timescale for completion is relatively short.
Naturally, everyone asks ‘when will it steam?’ – and the simple answer is ‘as soon as practicably possible’. The true answer, of course, lies in the number of supporters who decide to swell the growing band of shareholders on the project. Provided the number of shareholders continues to grow, and therefore income with it, five years is not an unreasonable timescale to see the reward of that effort, both financial and practical.
And, although the Standard 4MT 2-6-0s only found their way onto Western Region stock lists in the dying days of steam and never worked over the Stratford-uponAvon–Cheltenham route, the engine will be perfectly at home on the 14-mile Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
One member of the class has already visited – No. 76017, which received such a positive reception that it was the catalyst for the project to revive No. 76077’s moribund fortunes. There is no doubt that it will thrill visitors to the railway just as its sisters have on their respective home railways. ➜ Heritage Railway publisher Mortons is now No. 76077’s media partner.