We’ll steam again

THE NORTH Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) has started the first step on the long road to overhauling North Britishbuilt WD 2-10-0 3672 Dame Vera Lynn. It is hoped work can be completed by 2024/2025, to tie in with the loco’s 80th birthday and the 80th anniversary of VE Day. An appeal to raise the £600,000 needed to restore the 1944-built loco stands at £175,000. With the funds raised so far, the NYMR has contracted restoration of the tender to Rochdale-based Riley & Son (E). The extensive work includes a new tender water tank, new springs and axle box bearings and overhauled brake gear. Clifford Brown, who bought 3672 and SR Schools 4-4-0 926 Repton in the late 1980s, put both locos in trust to the NYMR when he began to suffer ill health. While Repton has enjoyed regular overhauls and spells in traffic, 3672 last steamed in 1998, by which time it had run 100,000 miles in NYMR traffic. More can be found by visiting www.nymr. co.uk/dvl