BLUEBELL BEATTIE: WELL TANK JOINS CALBOURNE
Beattie well tank No. 30587 has joined Adams ‘O2’ Calbourne on the guest list for the Bluebell Railway in February.
It means that the Sussex line’s ‘Branch Line’ weekend will include a gathering of no fewer than four LSWR design locomotives, with Adams ‘Radial’ 4-4-2T No. 488 and ‘B4’ dock tank No. 96 Normandy already resident at Sheffield Park; albeit static.
The event takes place on February 15-17, although the visit of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s 0-4-4T will not be confirmed until the turn of the year (SR485).
The National Railway Museum’s Beattie played a starring role in the Avon Valley Railway’s end-ofseason gala on November 10/11, (together with Kent & East Sussex Railway ‘Terrier’ No. 32678), and has returned to York, where it spent the school summer holidays on brake van ride duty in the South Yard.
The 2-4-0WT received attention to the balance weights on the driving wheelsets, which had become, says the engine’s Bodmin & Wenford Railway custodian general manager, Chris Hatton, “slightly loose”.
It is planned that the former Wenfordbridge branch veteran will return to Cornwall next autumn, following its Bluebell debut and a successive summer season at the NRM.