Colossus: Britain’s second ‘Pacific’ to be reborn
Britain’s second ever ‘Pacific’ is to be resurrected, with a new-build project to recreate the former Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway 4-6-2 Colossus. LMS Patriot Project engineers Jordan Leeds and Kevin West have already begun work on building the 15in-gauge Bassett-Lowke engine. The original was built in 1913 for Captain J.E.P. Howey, who went on to build the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. The locomotive was only the second ‘Pacific’ to run in Britain, after Churchward’s No. 111 The Great Bear. It was also the only 4-6-2 built by Bassett-Lowke, and was effectively an enlargement of the firm’s ‘Class 30’ 4-4-2s. It is estimated that the new ‘Class 60’ will cost £80,000. Construction of the new tender has already started; it is hoped this will be completed in 18 months’ time. Agreement has been reached for the loan of a number of historic patterns, including those for the driving wheels and cylinders. The project has also undertaken detailed surveys of the related ‘Class 30s’ Count Louis and Synolda as the design shares a number of common parts with
Colossus.
Built for Captain Howey’s Staughton Manor Railway and originally named John Anthony, the locomotive went to the Eaton Hall Railway for trials. However, after two years in storage following the outbreak of the First World War, the 4-6-2 was bought by the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway and renamed. It ran there until 1927, and was later combined with the chassis of fellow 4-6-2 Sir Aubrey Brocklebank to form the basis of the articulated 4-6-0+0-6-4 River Mite.