LAMBTON ‘AUSTERITY’ BOOKED TO HEADLINE TANFIELD GALA

Sole survivor No. 60 returns to County Durham coalfield after four decades.

Recently overhauled National Coal Board ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No. 60 is to be the star guest at the Tanfield Railway’s ‘Legends of Industry’ gala on June 16/17. The 1948-built locomotive, which recently took up residence at the Aln Valley Railway (SR478), is the only survivor from a batch of ‘Austerities’ fitted with cutdown cabs to negotiate restricted tunnels on the Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries system in Sunderland. The Tanfield event will be the first time it has been back to County Durham since it was preserved and moved to the Strathspey Railway in 1976. The authentic look will be completed by a reunion with Tanfield’s restored Lambton brake van No. 7, providing braking power on demonstration coal trains. Up to six locomotives are expected to be in steam, with a second visitor to be confirmed. The home fleet may yet include a second ‘Austerity’, as former NCB Backworth machine No. 49 is approaching the end of an overhaul after extensive boiler work, and reassembly is gathering pace. Robert Stephenson 0-6-0T No. 3 Twizell, Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST Keighley Corporation Gas Department No. 2 and Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn 0-4-0ST Sir Cecil A. Cochrane will all feature on an extensive timetable of passenger, mixed and coal trains. There will also be a real ale bar, guided tours and vintage road vehicles. County Durham was home to No. 60 for its entire commercial career. During an overhaul at Lambton Engine Works in 1961 it was fitted with a mechanical stoker, after which it spent six months on hire at the Springwell Bank Foot

shed of the Bowes Railway in 1962. After visiting a couple of other Durham collieries, the stoker was disconnected and the locomotive eventually found its way to Dawdon Colliery on the Durham coast – along with brake van No. 7. The Lambton Railway was the most extensive of all County Durham industrial railways and No. 60 was the first locomotive

acquired for the system after it became NCB property.

ARMSTRONG PHOTOGRAPHIC TRUST On June 5 1956, ‘Austerity’ No. 60 stands alongside the sizeable coaling stage at Philadelphia sheds on the Lambton Railway. The locomotive will return to County Durham this June.