‘Monster’ and Sentinel set to return this year
Elsecar Peckett and ‘LMS’ Sentinel to make post-overhaul debuts.
The elsecar heritage railway is to welcome two very different industrial locomotives back into traffic this year, with the last survivor of Peckett’s ultimate 0-6-0sT design and a sentinel named by sir William stanier expected to make their debuts.
Peckett ‘OQ’ Class 0‑6‑0ST Works No. 2150, better known as the ‘Mardy Monster’, is heading towards a return to steam after two and a half years on the sidelines. The 1954‑built machine was withdrawn from traffic in September 2014 with leaking stays. Since then, Locomotive Maintenance Services at Loughborough has replaced both firebox wrapper sides, the foundation ring, and the firebox throatplate. The boiler has passed initial inspection and was expected to undergo hydraulic and steam tests during January. Back at Elsecar, motion pins and bearings have been attended to with assistance from local engineering businesses, while the axleboxes have received attention and a new ashpan has been fabricated. The wheelsets from the 55‑ton locomotive were dispatched to the South Devon Railway for profiling. Saturday April 15 has been set for a potential ‘Welcome Back’ event at Elsecar ‑ although the railway has described this date as “extremely challenging, considering the work still outstanding”. The Yorkshire coalfield line expects that the 0‑6‑0ST will be a mainstay on footplate experience courses. Once the overhaul is complete, the ‘Mardy Monster’ will be 65% owned by the EHR and the remainder by original owner Harry Stenton, the railway having bought into the locomotive by contributing to the cost of the work. The ‘Mardy Monster’ came to fame as the last survivor of three ‘OQ’ locomotives. With its sister, W/No. 2151, it spent its career on the steeply graded line to Mardy Colliery in South Wales, surviving there until 1976 when it was retired, eventually being preserved at the Swanage Railway. It arrived at Elsecar in 1998. The trio had 18in by 26in outside cylinders and 4ft diameter driving wheels, giving a tractive effort in the same bracket as a ‘7F’ on British Railways. They were comfortably the largest locomotives built by Peckett for use in the British Isles, although beaten by a 60‑ton 0‑8‑0 exported to the Christmas Island Phosphate Company in 1931. Also at Elsecar is Sentinel 0‑4‑0VBT William (W/No. 9599 of 1956), which was named by former LMS CME Sir William Stanier when delivered to Courtaulds Fibre in Grimsby. During the overhaul, the distinctive angular bodywork has been rebuilt to resemble that of the handful of Sentinels owned by the LMS. It is also being turned out in LMS black livery and fitted with a Stanier whistle. The overhaul has included repairs to the inner and outer shells of the vertical boiler, a full retube, and new vacuum braking and steam heat systems. The water tank has been repaired and modified to suit the new external appearance. Owned by Mike Hart, William worked a trial train in late 2016 before returning to the workshops for final attention. It is to be launched at Elsecar’s ‘Sentinel Gala’ on March 26 alongside fellow Sentinel Gervase, a 1928 conversion of a 1900‑built Manning Wardle 0‑4‑0ST. Examples of the Shrewsbury firm’s road vehicles will also be in action, while stored Sentinel W/No. 9376 will be on display.