NRM TO ADVERTISE STEAM DISPOSAL TINY DE-ACCESSION PROPOSAL REJECTED
Museum responds to significant interest following the gifting of LSWR ‘T3’ to Swanage.
T he National Railway Museum has said it will advertise future planned rail vehicle disposals - and that a decision on a further steam locomotive could be made public “in the next few weeks.” The museum has not yet identified the locomotive in question. However, it has said that it has no current plans for further steam locomotive disposals beyond that. In an interview with Steam Railway editor Nick Brodrick, NRM Head Curator Andrew McLean said that “once a disposal has been agreed to and firmed up, we will advertise it, so people can make comments. Obviously, anyone else who might have an interest in acquiring a particular vehicle - not just locomotives, of course - will have the opportunity to do so through that.” It has also emerged that a proposal was made in 2016 to dispose of broad gauge 0-4-0VBT Tiny - but that the case was rejected after scrutiny by the Science Museum’s Board of Survey. The decision was made at the same meeting in August 2016 that approved the disposal of LSWR ‘T3’ No. 563 - at that point pending consultation with SCMG Enterprises. That information has come to light as a result of a Freedom of Information request to the Science Museum Group by Steam Railway. The NRM subsequently confirmed to the magazine that there are no current plans to resubmit the 1868-built Tiny, which is currently on display at the South Devon Railway, for disposal. ● The information on Tiny arrived after the interview date (p40-48).