L&Y and LNWR centenary celebrations coming together
PLANS are coming together for celebrations in 2022 to mark the centenary of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway merging with the London & North Western Railway.
A steering committee set up to plan the event has pencilled in the weekend of March 4-6 for a gala at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, followed by an event at the East Lancashire Railway on June 17-19.
Talks are taking place with the KWVR and West Coast Railway Company about the possibility of running a railtour between the two preserved lines, hauled by LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas, with the desired route being via Copy Pit.
One of the starring locomotives in the celebrations is expected to be LNWR Coal Tank 0-6-2T No. 1054, in the care of the Bahamas Locomotive Society and currently under overhaul at the group's Ingrow base. Society chairman Keith Whitmore said that it is “on course” for a return to steam next year, with the boiler expected to be returned to the frames in November.
The KWVR is also home to a working L&Y locomotive in the form of ‘Ironclad' 0-6-0 No. 957, which has just returned to steam after overhaul (see pages 22/23). Several LYR coaches are also based on the line, along with ‘Pug' 0-4-0ST No. 51218 on static display.
Currently plying ‘Lanky' metals at the ELR is Aspinall Class 23 0-6-0ST No. 51456 (752), while Class 27 0-6-0 No. 52322 and ‘Pug' No. 19 are under overhaul. As this issue went to press, No. 52322's boiler had passed its hydraulic test and was undergoing its out-of-frames steam test, with owner
Andy Booth hoping to reassemble the locomotive in time for the ELR's gala on October 15-17.
Community events in Bolton are proposed, and bus trips to the remains of the L&Y's Horwich Works have also been suggested.
The celebrations may also be linked to the 30th anniversary of the Manchester Metrolink tram system, which opened in 1992.
One of its first routes was the former L&Y Bury-Manchester Victoria line, which the pre-Grouping company electrified in a pioneering scheme in 1916.