PANNIER TWINS UNITED AS DEAN FOREST GROUP BUYS ‘BARRY 100’ 9682
Consecutively numbered pannier tanks Nos. 9681 and 9682 will live together on the Dean Forest Railway, with the sale of the latter to the Dean Forest Locomotive Group.
As detailed in SR486, No. 9682 – the 100th locomotive to return to steam from Barry scrapyard, in 2000 – had been placed on the market by the Southall-based GWR Preservation Group, having been dismantled for overhaul after its last boiler certificate expired at the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway in 2010.
The sale, for an undisclosed sum, was agreed when GWRPG Acting Chairman Mike Gorringe visited the DFR in October for the 90th anniversary celebrations of ‘Small Prairie’ No. 5541.
The DFLG is now preparing to move No. 9682 from Southall to Norchard, along with ‘Toad’ brake van No. CDW17488, which was included in the sale. This will bring No. 9682 alongside its classmate, which the DFLG also owns.
Both Collett-designed ‘8750s’ were turned out from Swindon Works under BR auspices in May 1949, but were never allocated to the same shed during their careers for the nationalised railway – although they would probably have met in service in the early 1960s, when they both worked in South Wales.
Although Mr Gorringe observes that “one of our members did suggest it’d be nice to see them together” during No. 9682’s previous boiler ticket, they have never been reunited since No. 9681 departed from Barry scrapyard in 1975, the GWRPG rescuing No. 9682 in 1982.
Currently undergoing overhaul, No. 9681 is expected to return to steam in 2019, after which the DFLG will tackle the overhaul of No. 9682. As reported in SR486, £35,000 worth of parts were stolen from the latter engine at Southall, and the group now faces the task of sourcing replacements or making new components. Anyone able to help should contact the DFLG at Norchard Station, Lydney, Gloucestershire GL15 4ET or via www.deanforestlocogroup.org – donations towards the project can be sent to the same address.
The pannier duo will provide valuable extra motive power for the DFR’s planned extension northwards from Parkend to Speech House Road and Cinderford, along with No. 5541, also owned by the DFLG. The charitable organisation was formed in 2015 by merging the Forest Prairie Fund and the Forest Pannier Tank Fund, which were set up in 1972 and 1973, respectively, to buy Nos. 5541 and 9681 from Barry.
The DFR made an earlier attempt to secure a second pannier tank in 2004, when resident No. 9642 was put up for sale by the South Wales Pannier Group – but this engine was bought by Andrew Goodman.