If you don’t like the livery – stump up the cash
I WAS interested to see the letter in issue 285 about the recreation of`pre-Grouping trains'from your correspondent Derrick Martin.
About 1995, I found myself one of two partners owning one of the locomotives to which he refers, former Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway `Ironclad' No. 957.
This was not by design, but as an unintended consequence of arranging sponsorship for the locomotive's acquisition and restoration by a friend, acting as an intermediary between him, the then owner and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway of which I was then its secretary. I was happy for this to happen, but in the event, it cost us the best part of £150,000 each; had we not formed a charity to be the legal owner of which we were the trustees, then it would have been the thick end of a quarter of a million each to buy and restore it.
After 10 years of running her I'd had enough and was only too glad when my co-owner expressed the same view. So without any pressure from it, but entirely free of charge, we handed over the charity to the railway which has facilitated the locomotive's recent restoration. I rejoice at the KWVR benefitting again at our enterprise in saving it for the KWVR and the costs which we incurred two decades ago.
At that time, we ran it for a few months in BR livery and received complaints in the post and press about the livery, on just the themes as Mr Martin advocates for her going into L&Y colours now.
He advocates that it be restored in L&Y livery. Well, I personally paid for its painting at its last overhaul which cost me £6000 in addition to the £150,000 mentioned previously. When the numberplates were delivered the background was green, as was done by the L&Y to indicate a locomotive built by Beyer Peacock. My wife liked the green and it was as much her money as mine, so it stayed... even though it was not precisely correct for the period of the locomotive's livery which should have seen them with a black background. Also, the livery was L&Y lined passenger in which at least six of the class were painted to work on the Axholme Joint Railway of which No. 957 was one.
Rivet-replicating
We built a new tender body too, as the one we bought was full of holes and in parts could be pulled apart by hand, so bad was the rust. We took the greatest care to replicate the design, patching and rivet patterns although the latter did not match those shown in the Jenkinson & Essery book on L&Y locomotives inherited by the LMS; we do not know why this difference happened but it is a fact; perhaps it was done on a Friday afternoon but the copy was and still is correct.
So, the best part of a third of a million pounds in, you would have thought that the livery, bling and rivet freaks would have been chuffed. In fact it was anything but that. On its first run in the new style I was in the cab, looking all correct with replica L&Y footplate wear and a chap came up to me at Keighley, and berated me as the owner for the `wrong' colour of the numberplate; he was really rude. He ranted that no `Ironclads' had ever carried passenger livery but had never heard of the Axholme line, so one had to question his L&Y knowledge generally. His mate had a copy (honestly!) of Jenkinson & Essery with him and was waving it at me to prove what a prat I was and just how wrong one could be.
I had mail in a similar vein sent to my home and the railway, one containing a KWVR membership card torn in two. Another unsigned letter said in amongst much else “we know where you live”, which went to the police. It really was most unpleasant; what made it worse was that I had taken huge care to `get it right' apart from wanting to please my wife, who had been and remained to say the least, tolerant and understanding.
This was only the start of targeted abuse about the livery inaccuracies which carried on for a decade. I suspect that there were a small number of `L&Y nutters' involved, but there was certainly more than one person; the verbal abuse was a regular feature, more or less whenever I was on the locomotive and it came from different people. I determined that every time a comment was made, that would add another six months to the `wrong' appearance. It remained in the `wrong' L&Y colours for 10 years.
Personally, I welcome her return to traffic and if it were now my responsibility, it would most certainly be in BR livery, if only to annoy those who want her in model perfect L&Y colours, so much did they irritate me. I would suggest that if Mr Martin wants his `treat' as he puts it, then he offers to pay for it and do some work towards his dreams, or shut up with his insults about Yorkshiremen making tea rather than doing as he wants. David Pearson, email