CAMERON: ‘NO GOING BACK’ ON ‘A4’ AND ‘K4’ MUSEUM PLAN
Even Ian Riley’s best efforts haven’t changed locomotive owner’s mind…
DESPITE aTTEmPTS to persuade him to change his mind, John Cameron, owner of ‘a4’ No. 60009 Union of South Africa and ‘K4’ 2‑6‑0 No. 61994 The Great Marquess, insists there will be no going back on his plan to permanently mothball both engines in his proposed new farming and railway museum in Fife, by the summer of 2019.
Ian Riley, boss of the locomotive engineers Riley & Son (E) Ltd, has been the main voice in a bid to coax Cameron into putting Union of South Africa through one more Heavy General overhaul when the engine’s main line certificate expires in July 2019, and has offered to undertake that work, as well as responsibility for the ‘A4’s’ maintenance and operation over the seven-year period of a new certificate. Riley & Son is currently conducting ‘bottom end’ repairs to the ‘A4’ at Heywood, Lancs to allow it to work out the final two years of its existing certificate. A return to traffic by the ‘A4’, which has not run since September 2015, has been promised ‘by Easter’. But Cameron, an invited footplate guest on Riley’s ‘Black Five’ No. 45407 during its operation of Fort William-Mallaig Santa and Yuletide trains in December, is adamant that the Gresley ‘Pacific’, which he bought from British Railways in 1966 when he was just 27 years old, will be retired to a museum existence in a little over two years from now. “There isn’t going to be a new seven-year certificate”, the 77-year-old former ScotRail chairman told Steam Railway in January. “Ian Riley is a good chap, a fine, professional engineer, and I have no doubt he would do an excellent job in overhauling ‘Number Nine’ - but I’m afraid what Ian wants is academic. I’m serious; I’m not going back on my plans for the museum.” Far from it, as Cameron is now preparing plans for the new ‘Farming and Railway Visitor Centre’ on his 300-acre ‘home farm’ at Balbuthie, St Monans, which he says will be submitted to Fife Council “in the next two months or so”. The large, single building, to be constructed over the next two years, will tell the life story of Union of South Africa and The Great Marquess - both Scottishbased engines throughout their time with the LNER and BR, while on the agriculture side, displays of equipment and artefacts will help explain the relationship between farming and food production. Three roads will be laid inside the new exhibition building - one each for Union of South Africa, The Great Marquess, and Mk 1 Brake Corridor Second (BSK) No. 35486 - John Cameron’s maroon-liveried support coach. All three vehicles are expected to be delivered by road trailer from Thornton Junction, the nearest railhead, 20 miles away. Balbuthie’s new visitor centre will be administered by the two trusts which John Cameron has created - the Cameron Railway Trust, and the Cameron Agriculture Trust. In December, John Cameron met with North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Manager Chris Price to explore any possibility of the sidelined ‘K4’ class ‘Mogul’ The Great Marquess being restored to operation on the NYMR, which would be undertaken at the railway’s expense. The locomotive last ran in October 2015, failing in traffic with a ‘minor’ fracture of its inner copper firebox - but its boiler certificate has since expired, and a full overhaul is necessary if the 2-6-0 is to run again. The NYMR is said to be ‘considering the options’.