Back together after four decades

STEPHENSON Steam Railway, in association with the North Tyneside Steam Railway, held the Victor & Vulcan Reunion Gala over the May bank holiday weekend.

Victor and Vulcan were two of three Bagnall New Standard 18 0-6-0STs (Nos. 2994 and 2996) specifically designed for Port Talbot steelworks and built in 1951. They last saw service on the internal system at British Leyland’s Longbridge factory in Birmingham from where they were bought in 1973 for the nascent West Somerset Railway, on which Victor was the first locomotive used.

No. 2994 was sold in 1986, and is now at the NTSR. No. 296 was sold three years later and eventually ended up at the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway.

The reunion had been postponed for two years because of the pandemic.

MATTHEW DITCH The pair are seen double heading a passenger service together bound for Middle Engine Lane.