Amersham can now boast its very own ‘Met No.1!’

METROPOLITAN Railway E class 0-4-4T No.1 has again returned to Amersham and this time for keeps – not on London Underground metals, but on Talyllyn Railway tracks!

No.1 worked the last steam-hauled LT passenger train in 1961 and survived in use until 1965; it is now preserved at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. In 2013, the 150th anniversary of London Underground, No. 1 was loaned to London Transport Museum for the Metropolitan Railway 150 celebrations honouring the anniversary of the first Underground journey in 1863. No.1 has visited Amersham since, most recently in 2017.

However, No.1 can now be seen on a grass verge at Oakfield Corner, across the road from NatWest bank, together with a pair of Jubilee first and third class coaches – all standing on track supplied by the Talyllyn and mounted on sleepers also supplied by Tywyn and the Leighton Buzzard Railway.

This No.1 and carriages are half-size replicas, built in wood to no particular gauge for static display only, by the 1st Chesham Scout Group and Amersham Town Council during a two-year heritage project.

The train was hauled into place on September 18 with the help of Nic Kennedy, who owns Amersham MOT in Plantation Road, and the scout group.

IAN MCDONALD/MNR Visiting A3 Pacific No. 60163 Flying Scotsman passes Rashes Green crossing at Dereham on October 9 during its hugely successful visit to the Mid-Norfolk Railway, where it hauled four sell-out trains a day at weekends, each with 350 passengers, with school visits on Mondays and Tuesdays and static visits mid-week. It left light engine for Carnforth on October 18.

AMERSHAM TOWN COUNCIL The new Metropolitan Railway No.1 and its two carriages now on display.