PRESERVATION
OCTOBER has been good for preserved industrial diesel shunters, with at least three being coaxed back into life after many years sat out of traffic. At the Chasewater Railway recently arrived Thomas
Hill Vanguard No. 103c has been restarted after at least 20 years out of use and is due to enter the workshops for a full overhaul. Also in Staffordshire, at the Foxfield Railway, Kerr Stuart 6wDM
No. 4421/1929 Rom River has also been restarted and again a return to traffic is on the cards. One of only a handful of diesel locomotives built by
Kerr Stuart, No. 4421 is one of the earliest diesel locomotives built in the country and believed to be the first purpose-built standard gauge diesel. Originally built to run on a standard gauge branch line of the otherwise narrow gauge Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway in Cumbria, it worked trains of crushed granite from Murthwaite to Ravenglass. When the quarries were closed in 1953 No. 4421 then went to the north east, working for the National
Coal Board, where it was rebuilt with a Dorman diesel engine in 1959. It moved onto Rom River Reinforcement, Lichfield, in the late 1960s, before finally being preserved at the Foxfield Railway in 1985.
At the Garw Valley Railway in South Wales, for the first time in over a decade, Frank Hibberd Planet Locomotive No. 3890/1959 was started up. This follows a lot of work by volunteers over the past few months, including the fitting of a new fuel tank and the reassembly of the many parts previously removed. Although the engine started first time there is still a lot to do before the locomotive can return to traffic.
We previously reported on the rescue, by members of the Yorkshire Wolds Railway, of John Fowler 0-6-0DH No. 4240017/1966 from its longtime incarceration in the locomotive shed at Omya UK Ltd, Melton, North Ferriby. Since arriving at the railway, the engineering group has had a proper look at the locomotive and begun the task of restoring it to running order. Initial work includes sourcing a new compressor to replace the oversize one it came with, replacing and repairing cab doors and fabricating new cab glass frames, which are awaiting fitting.
It is estimated £6000 will be needed to complete the mechanical restoration. To support this a new fundraising campaign has been launched called
‘Fund The Fowler’. Anyone wishing to help the cause can donate at www.givey.com/fundthefowler