Western Locomotive Association celebrates bumper season
The Western Locomotive Association saw an unexpected boost in the number of days its locomotive D1062 Western Courier was operated on the Severn Valley Railway during the 2022 season. The locomotive ran on the SVR for a total of 58 days between May and October, accumulating an overall mileage of 3372 throughout the season.
Just under 3000 of those miles were in charge of passenger trains on the heritage line – the equivalent of six-and-a-half return trips from London Paddington to Penzance. The WLA said that it had originally expected D1062 to be in service for about 20 days during the season for running days, diesel events, and driver experience courses, but the additional diesel running was brought about due to the increasing cost of coal for steam locomotives and also the prolonged heatwave during the summer.
That heatwave saw several of the SVR’S diesel locomotives pressed into service in place of steam locomotives due to the increased lineside fire risk during the dry spell. D1062 has spent the whole of the 2022 season carrying replica name and number plates from long-scrapped D1040 Western Queen, with the identity applied as part of the SVR’S celebrations of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June.
Following the death of The Queen on September 8, the Western retained its temporary guise for the remainder of the season as a mark of respect.
The D1040 Western Queen name and number plates will now be removed – with the locomotive reverting to its correct D1062 identity – and one set is being offered as the first prize in the WLA’S annual raffle, which will take place during 2023.
Work has also continued on the long-running overhaul of D1013 Western Ranger, with work recently seeing the locomotive receive attention to its bodywork.
More information on the WLA can be found at www.westernlocomotives.com