Peak Locomotive Company’s 45041 to steam again!

THE PEAK Locomotive Company has announced plans to reinstate the steam-heat boiler inside Nene Valley Railway-based 45041 Royal Tank Regiment following the successful installation of an operational steam heat boiler inside Class 46 D182. The PLC owns four locomotives from the Brish Rail Peak designs, with D4 Great Gable (44004), 45041, 45108 and D182 (46045) in its ownership, all of which are operational. D4 is currently located at the PLC’S base at the Midland Railway – Butterley, while the other three are out on loan to heritage railways, with 45041 based on the NVR, 45108 at the East Lancashire Railway and D182 on the Severn Valley Railway. The steam heat boiler was overhauled and recertified for D182 early last year, with the locomotive then going on loan to the SVR, where it saw extensive use on services during the autumn and winter months alongside the Class 40 Preservation Society’s 40106 Atlantic Conveyor, which also currently has an operational steam heat boiler. The two locomotives have proved particularly useful for the SVR which, although boasting an enviable home-based diesel fleet, does not have any electric train heat coaching stock so requires either steam locomotives or steam-heat equipped diesels to work services during the colder months. PLC chairman Mike Kerry told Railways Illustrated: “Following the interest for the operational boiler in our Class 46, we have embarked on another boiler project, this time to reinstate the heating system in 45041. The Peak Locomotive Company has two steam generators to act as donors to make one good steam generator for 45041. “With that in mind, on February 18 we dismantled one of the spare Stone Vapour steam generators, number 20008, at the Midland Railway, with the help of our friends at the Class 40 Preservation Society, who helped us immensely with returning D182 to steam. Following this visit, an action plan was created, starting with testing the three internal boiler coils out of the boiler where two have been found to be serviceable, but one has a leak. “A new set of three coils are available from the nearest Vapour Power dealer in Belgium at a cost of £22,000, so a new replacement coil could be in the region of £7000. During the remainder of February and March, various areas of corrosion were identified in the boiler casing for replacement and this arduous and rather unglamorous task has continued behind the scenes.” Long-withdrawn Peak 45015, which is due to be scrapped, has donated its boiler (numbered 20599) and boiler water tanks, which will be reused on 45041. Volunteers from the PLC visited the Battlefield Line at the end of February to disconnect the boiler and boiler water tanks for reuse in 45041. The tanks on 45015 were galvanised to prevent corrosion, so the acquisition of these two tanks will prove useful for fitting into 45041 as the project progresses. The parts recovered from 45015 were delivered to the MRB in mid-march, with the tanks cleaned and boiler dismantled during April. Mr Kerry said that once the steam heat boiler has been successfully reinstated in 45041, the locomotive will be available for the NVR to use throughout the year.

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Phil Chilton Peak Locomotive Company The Peak Locomotive Company’s 45041 Royal Tank Regiment is set to have its steam heat boiler reinstated following the successful installation of steam heating into Class 46 D182, which is currently on loan to the Severn Valley Railway, where it has seen extensive use during the winter. On October 10, 2021, 45010 passes Ailsworth with the 13.05 Wansford to Peterborough service during the NVR’S ‘Three Peaks’ gala, which also saw PLC locomotives D4 Great Gable and D182 visit the NVR to join 45041. Peak Locomotive Company volunteers begin dismantling one of the boilers at their Swanwick base on the Midland Railway – Butterley. The group has two boilers available for the project and aim to make one serviceable steam heat generator out of the two.