Trains of thought
In this issue of Steam Days, Keith Widdowson, whose many travels behind specific locomotives have been recorded in previous issues of this magazine, now looks at his travels when hauled by the Ivatt 2-6-2Ts that were used through much of the BR system. Built for cross-country duties and branch line work, the first ten Ivatt 2-6-2Ts appeared on the scene from Crewe Works in December 1946 as LMS Nos 1200-1209, and these engines did not receive their BR numbers (with the ‘4’ prefix) until the period November 1948 to December 1950. In due course, 130 of these lightweight versatile tank engines were built –
120 at Crewe Works, with Derby Works taking over the construction of the last ten in 1952. Their design was adopted for the 30 British Railways Standard ‘2MT’ 2-6-2Ts in the ‘84000’ series which were constructed at Crewe (20) and Darlington (10).
In their early years, batches of the Ivatt engines were sent to Bolton’s Plodder Lane shed, Bath’s Somerset & Dorset shed, Wakefield, Farnley Junction, Nuneaton and Fleetwood, and others were scattered throughout the BR regions, apart from the Scottish Region, and only to Abergavenny (86K) on the Western Region. Although tracking down a few London Midland examples, Keith’s association with these Ivatt engines only started in 1964 and before long it was a case of diminishing numbers, although the Southern Region notably found a reasonable amount of work for the class through 1966 and beyond.
My earlier spotting days were rather limited regarding travelling far and wide throughout the BR system due to lack of transport, apart from my bicycle or rail travel from Worcester when I could afford it. Most of my sightings of these handsome locomotives and their BR ‘2MT’ equivalents in the ‘84000’ class were restricted to the latter years of steam when out with my notebook, pen and camera, at a time when those Ivatt tanks remaining in traffic were still scattered throughout the country when I was ‘chasing’ steam from early 1966 onwards.
Sadly, I did not witness many of these Ivatt tanks engines in action, as my spotting days from 1966 mainly concentrated on engine sheds, sometimes on organised coach trips with the Worcester Locomotive Society, and at other times by car with my son and a few friends. The Welsh scrap yards revealed very few, such as the solitary No 41313 at Woodham Brothers yard in Barry docks and No 41270 at a Bridgend scrap yard. My other sightings were on Eastleigh shed on 2 October 1966 where we found Nos 41287, 41294, 41299 and 41319, on Bournemouth shed (Nos 41224, 41295, and 41316) and on Weymouth shed (Nos 41284, 41298, and 41301) on that same day, indicating that the Southern Region was the place to see these handsome tank engines as the end of steam approached. However, on 19 November 1967 we caught a glimpse of No 41264 on Carlisle (Upperby) shed. Only four of the Ivatt tanks have been saved from the cutter’s torch, Nos 41241, 41298, 41312 and 41313, but all will be affectionately remembered. Enjoy your read and your own memories of these attractive tank engines.