The ROSTER
LOCOMOTIVES IN FOCUS
Corris Railway No. 3 (‘Sir Haydn’): Repairs to the frames and boiler barrel of the Talyllyn Railway’s Hughes 0‑4‑2ST are complete at the Vale of Rheidol Railway, while the cylinders are machined and ready to fit, and new crank pins are being fitted to the driving wheelsets. An £85,000 appeal for the locomotive has so far raised £63,740; donations can be made via www.talyllyn.co.uk/ loco-3-appeal Vale of Rheidol No. 7: Owain Glyndwr’s^ boiler has had its new tubes fitted and is almost ready for testing. W24: ‘O2’ 0‑4‑4T Calbourne has had its driving wheelset removed at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, for the eccentric straps to be re‑metalled, and the axle boxes and horn guides checked for wear. Replacement castings for the regulator have been obtained, but its return to traffic will be delayed as a valve and piston examination has revealed additional work on the crossheads and slidebars. With the Adams tank out of action, the IoWSR’s two ‘Terrier’ 0‑6‑0Ts, Nos. W8 Freshwater and W11, were in additional use during the spring to cover for Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2‑6‑2T No. 41298 when the latter was undergoing boiler washouts. However, the fleet was strengthened with the return to service of ‘Austerity’ No. 198 Royal Engineer (see ‘Industrial round‑up’ on page 31). 777: National Collection ‘King Arthur’ Sir Lamiel has been withdrawn from traffic for overhaul. The Maunsell 4‑6‑0 was failed at the Great Central Railway in August with leaking tubes. The engine’s boiler certificate was due to expire in October. 752: Newly manufactured spring hangers are being trial‑fitted to the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway ’23’ class 0‑6‑0ST at Bury. 4555: All of the hornblocks have been refitted to the frames of the Dartmouth Steam Railway’s Churchward ‘Small Prairie’, having been removed to weld up a number of cracks in the frames (SR466 Roster), and fractures in five of the hornblocks themselves. A horn grinding machine is being made in partnership with the East Somerset Railway, while all the axleboxes have been re‑metalled, and new bearings fitted to the side rods and big ends. At Tyseley, the boiler has had new firebox lap seams, throatplate and doorplate welded in, with replacement three‑quarter sides to follow, and the two new barrel sections are ready to be riveted together. Said DSR boilersmith Rory Edwards: “We hope to have the boiler back, with a new ‘ten‑ year’ ticket, for Christmas, meaning she should be hauling trains by March or April next year.” 5532: A replacement front tubeplate has been produced and drilled for the ex‑Barry ‘4575’ 2‑6‑2T, which is in the latter stages of restoration at the Llangollen Railway. Since the tanks were fitted last year (SR456) further pipework has been fitted and a pair of injectors have been ordered. Its owners, the Llangollen Railway Great Western Locomotive Group, are now seeking a safety valve cover and a pattern for the hydrostatic lubricator. To help pay for the boiler overhaul, their other engine ‑ ‘28XX’ 2‑8‑0 No. 2859 ‑ is up for sale, with a new group aiming to raise funds for its purchase (see story right). 6046: Greg Wilson’s ‘S160’ 2‑8‑0 is to visit the West Somerset Railway for 2018, arriving in the first week of March and staying until the first week of January 2019. His other ‘S160’, No. 5197, is booked for the Telford Steam Railway’s ‘Polar Express’ trains this Christmas, and will then be the mainstay of Churnet Valley Railway services in 2018, alongside Polish ‘TKh’ 0‑6‑0T No. 2944 ‘Hotspur’. 7802: Construction of a ‘new’ 3,500‑gallon tender for Bradley Manor is under way at Tyseley, with dragboxes, cross‑members and steps completed, the main frames being drilled and their axlebox hornblocks fitted. It is a virtually complete rebuild of ex‑Barry tender No. 2329 (last paired with ‘2884’ 2‑8‑0 No. 3845) with new tank and frames, to replace the high‑sided 4,000‑gallon tender with which No. 7802 has run in preservation. Its original tender was sold separately from Barry and is now coupled to ‘43XX’ 2‑6‑0 No. 5322 at Didcot (see pages 62‑65). 7820: Dinmore Manor has become the latest steam locomotive to clock up 100,000 miles in preservation, achieving this milestone at the West Somerset
Railway on August 7 with the 10.20am train from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead. ‘2884’ 2-8-0 No. 3850, also owned by Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd, ran 80,000 miles during its first boiler ticket between 2006 and 2015, and is therefore also expected to hit the
100,000 mark after it returns from its overhaul at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. 31806: Following its mid-term bottom end overhaul, the Maunsell ‘U-boat’ returned to traffic at the Swanage Railway on August 9. 30825: All the new firebox crown stays have been fitted to the boiler of the Essex Locomotive Society’s ‘S15’ 4-6-0 at its Scarborough works, while at Grosmont on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, its tender has been painted in Southern Railway olive green to match recently overhauled ‘Schools’ 4-4-0 No. 926 Repton. 41298: To further illustrate the originality of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s Ivatt 2-6-2T, the locomotive has received a new set of brake blocks - the previous items having been fitted by BR in the 1960s. 45231: Jeremy Hosking’s ‘Black Five’ was expected to return to service “imminently” as this issue was going to press. Its boiler was returned to the frames at Crewe on August 14/15. 45305: Renewal of the Loughborough ‘Black Five’s’ small tubes has been tackled, which will enable it to be certified until late 2020. It is hoped that its next public appearance will be at the Great Central’s October 5-8 gala, before resuming main line duties. 46428: Arrangements are being made to shotblast the frames of the Bury Standard 4 Group’s Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 at the East Lancashire Railway, with the ex-Barry engine cocooned in plastic sheeting. Fabrication of the new pony truck stretcher bar is almost complete. 46464: Firebox stays and rivets are being removed from the Ivatt ‘2MT’s boiler at Bridge of Dun (adjacent to the Caledonian Railway) in preparation for replacing sections of the firebox sides and doorplate flange. The valves and pistons have been also been removed for overhaul, possibly for the first time since BR days; withdrawn in 1966, it briefly ran at the Strathspey Railway from 1978-79, before its firebox was damaged when it was lit up with insufficient water in the boiler. It is now being restored by the
Carmyllie Pilot Company, so named because it was a regular on the Carmyllie branch in BR days. 60007: Liquid nitrogen produced an ethereal scene in the workshop of the National Railway Museum, York, in late August as it was used to contract the new valve liners before they were installed into the steam chests of ‘A4’ Sir Nigel Gresley. The frames and boiler of the LNER ‘Pacific’ are being overhauled at York and Llangollen respectively, and the wheels, which have been retyred at Buckfastleigh on the South Devon Railway, will soon be returning to York. 80097: A fire was lit in the boiler of the Bury Standard 4 Group’s 2-6-4T at Northern Steam Engineering on August 11, its first since July 1965 when the locomotive was withdrawn from Machynlleth shed. Some leaking stays were subsequently found, but a hydraulic test was expected to take place on August 30. Harry Taylor, the group’s publicity officer, said: “This is great news and we are now aiming for No. 80097 to be running on the ELR by the middle of 2018.” 80104: Damaged in a collision with ‘Battle of Britain’ No. 34070 Manston on July 24, Southern Locomotives Ltd’s ‘Standard 4’ tank was expected to return to traffic on the Swanage Railway on August 30, having had one buffer replaced (see also News). 92134: Work on the boiler of the unique surviving single-chimney ‘9F’ was nearing completion at LNWR Crewe in August, with all the firebox crown stays in place and only a handful of the other stays left to fit, and the tubes expected to be installed shortly.