‘Forgotten Standard’ is back on wheels after over 30 years in the wilderness
BR STANDARD 4MT 2-6-0 No. 76077 has been re-wheeled in the latest milestone of its restoration from Barry scrapyard condition for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
The locomotive's 5ft 3in-diameter driving wheels and the front pony truck were placed back under its frames at Locomotive Maintenance Services of Loughborough on June 17.
Described as “a well-planned and slick operation”, the job was completed in just 90 minutes.
It is the first time that No. 76077's frames have been on the wheels in more than 30 years. Ian Crowder, marketing director of its owning group, Toddington Standard Locomotive Ltd, called it “quite an emotional moment”.
Referred to as ‘the forgotten Standard', the engine was rescued from Dai Woodham's scrapyard by Chris Hinton and brought to the G/WR in 1987. Some initial restoration work was carried out, but it spent most of the next three decades in storage as a kit of parts.
Chris Hinton transferred ownership of the engine to TSLL, formed by a group of G/WR members, in 2017, with restoration starting at LMS two years later. Since then, volunteers and LMS staff have fully restored the frames, with a new rear dragbox, bufferbeams and buffers, and completely rebuilt the pony truck which had suffered damage in a suspected derailment during the engine's BR service. The wheelsets were overhauled at the South Devon Railway.
The next steps to complete the locomotive's bottom half will be the machining of the valve and cylinder bores, assembly of the motion and brake gear, and fitting of the cab and smokebox. A new door and chimney for the latter have already been delivered.
The 4MT's boiler, which remains at Toddington, will be professionally inspected later this year to assess the work required for its overhaul.
Shares in the locomotive are available to purchase and components can be sponsored, with details at www.standard76077.com
Ian said: “Provided we continue to attract investors, it's not unrealistic to expect that the engine will be running in about five years.”
It will be the last of the four surviving Standard 4 2-6-0s to return to steam, all having been rescued from Barry. The others – all currently operational – are No. 76017 at the Mid-Hants Railway, No. 76079 at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, and No. 76084 at the North Norfolk Railway. A fifth example, No. 76080, reached Barry but was cut up in 1972.