J27 to recreate slice of local history at North Tyneside Railway's gala

THE North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group's LNER J27 0-6-0 No. 65894 (NER P3 No. 2392) is to visit the North Tyneside Railway (NTR) for its July 9-11 30th anniversary gala, to be held in association with the Stephenson Steam Railway and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway-based locomotive will recreate an important slice of local history, as Percy Main was regularly frequented by J27s, with its shed almost exclusively filled with them.

At the NTR, which reopened on May 23, the J27 and fellow guest Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 0-6-0ST No. 49, from the Tanfield Railway, will run alongside home fleet engines on an intensive timetable including passenger trains and demonstration freight workings.

No. 49 is also returning to its old territory. While it worked for the National Coal Board, it regularly ran between Backworth Colliery to the staithes at Whitehill Point, passing through the site of the railway's museum at Middle Engine Lane and following the route it runs on today. No. 49 has returned to action after a 14-month absence, having passed its steam test at Marley Hill shed on May 25.