Overhaul of Nene Valley Railway’s first locomotive commences
NENE Valley Railway volunteers have begun overhauling Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Derek Crouch, the locomotive which hauled the line's first train.
The NVR's Small Loco Group is raising funds to return it to steam by 2024 to mark the 50th anniversary of its starring role on April 9, 1974, at the head of the Peterborough Railway Society's official first train from Longueville Junction to its Wansford headquarters (it had also hauled a test train two days earlier). It will also be the centenary of the engine's construction as Works No. 1539 in 1924.
Significance
The locomotive was supplied new to Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons. It is unknown when it last steamed; although the NVR's website states 1982, it is now believed that it may have been earlier, as its last boiler records that can be found date from 1975/76. The NVR's official reopening from Wansford to Orton Mere took place in 1977.
Work on its overhaul commenced in earnest during the second week of May, with the frames brought inside the workshop at Wansford for needle-gunning to remove corrosion.
Its cylinder block, removed on May 16, was cracked, so quotes of about £4000-5000 have been obtained for a new casting. Its wheels will be sent away for reprofiling of the tyres and axle journals.
However, its boiler is “basically new,” says Nathan Wilson of the Small Loco Group, and it is planned to overhaul it in-house – which, it is hoped, will be the first step to carrying out more such tasks at Wansford.
“It will be the first major boiler work we've done here,” he said. “We've done retubes, but not things like replacement of firebox sides."
Resources
“However, if we start building up skills among our volunteers, we can do more further down the line.”
It is estimated that the overhaul will cost £35,000 in total.
Donations payable to ‘Nene Valley Railway' can be sent to the line c/o the Small Loco Group. Details of a sponsorship scheme can be obtained by emailing nvrsmalllocogroup@ gmail.com or by visiting the group's Facebook page.