LOST BINBROOK ‘CRAB’ RESURFACES AT BURY

LMS ‘Crab’ No. 42859, which was almost scrapped in a legal dispute at its former base of Binbrook Airfield in 2012, has reappeared at the East Lancashire Railway.

A source at the line confirmed to Steam Railway in late October that the frames of the HughesFowler 2-6-0 were in storage at Bury, and had been there for “weeks rather than days”.

He was unable to confirm why they had been brought to the line, or whether the ex-Barry engine had changed hands, but said that the ELR itself had not acquired them.

The Crewe-built ‘Mogul’ was threatened with scrapping at the former RAF Binbrook in late 2012, with its wheels being removed (SR409). Its owner, Jim Arkell, moved the frames to a private site in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, the following year – but scrapped the boiler (SR424).