INDUSTRIALS STEAM TO THE RESCUE FOR START OF SEASON
Spate of locomotive hires from North Yorkshire to the South East at start of 2018 season.
P reserved lines across the country have hired industrial power to get the main operating season under way. Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T Samuel Fox No. 20 has returned to its former home county of Yorkshire to become the sole working steam locomotive on the Wensleydale Railway. The ‘Cornist’ class machine was due to take up scheduled services from April 14. It replaces the North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group’s ‘J72’ 0-6-0T No. 69023, which provided the regular summer motive power on the line from 2012 to 2017, but has been withdrawn early (see Roster). Built in 1942 for the Samuel Fox steelworks at Stocksbridge, near Sheffield, the Hudswell Clarke has led a nomadic life in preservation, including a spell at the West Somerset Railway, and is now part of the Llangollen Railway hire fleet. Further south, the Epping Ongar Railway has secured ‘Austerity’ Hunslet Works No. 3883 ‘Lord Phil’, which arrived on April 4. Last steamed at Peak Rail on August 7 2016, the 1962-built locomotive (rebuilt from Hunslet Works No. 2868 of 1943) has been overhauled at Tyseley. Unique Grant Ritchie 0-4-0ST Kinglassie Colliery No. 21 moved from the Ribble Steam Railway to the Telford Steam Railway on March 30. The 1894-built locomotive, Works No. 272, was due to be in action at the West Midlands line by April 1, holding the fort while resident Peckett 0-4-0ST Rocket (Works No. 1722 of 1926) undergoes boiler repairs. Slightly earlier in March, Fletcher Jennings 0-4-0T Captain Baxter, from the Bluebell Railway, became the latest industrial to visit Didcot Railway Centre. Great Western Society spokesman Frank Dumbleton said: “There is no firm date yet for Captain Baxter to return to the Bluebell Railway, but it is likely to be well into the summer.”