FAILED UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA ‘GOOD TO GO’ AGAIN IN JUNE
‘A4’ will be ‘fit and ready’ for June railtours.
John Cameron, owner of ‘A4’ No. 60009 Union of South Africa, has allayed fears that boiler issues with his streamlined Gresley ‘Pacific’ may force the engine’s early retirement, ahead of its planned move to a permanent museum existence in July next year. Union of South Africa had been scheduled to run the Edinburgh-Perth-Inverness leg of the Railway Touring Company’s ‘Great Britain XI’ tour on April 21, and return south again on the Inverness-Carlisle leg two days later – but the discovery during routine maintenance of a hairline crack in the firebox backplate, forced the ‘Streak’ to surrender its turns (see separate story). ‘Number Nine’ was back in the hands of Riley & Son fitters at Bury on the East Lancs Railway in May for remedial repairs, but an optimistic John Cameron told Steam Railway on May 16: “All things being equal, we will be fit and ready to go again with ‘Number Nine’ from Paddington to Cardiff on June 14, and the Paddington to Worcester trip for RTC’s ‘Cotswold Venturer’ on Saturday June 16,” though he admitted: “I did have concerns myself about ‘Number Nine’s’ immediate future.” In fact, the ‘A4’ will miss just one other booked turn – the ‘Dartmouth Express’ from Bristol to Kingswear, for the Railway Touring Company on June 9. It is not the first time that a mechanical failure with No. 60009 has cast doubt on the likelihood of the locomotive running through to its planned final withdrawal in 14 months’ time. A fracture in the engine’s right-hand valve chest sidelined the ‘A4’ in November 2017, and during repairs at Riley Engineering, further faults were found in the regulator and internal steam pipes. Mr Cameron has decreed that Union of South Africa will join his Gresley ‘K4’ class ‘Mogul’, No. 61994 The Great Marquess in permanent retirement at a new visitor centre to be built at Balbuthie, his home farm near St Monance in Fife (SR462).