ONE IN, ONE OUT AT CAVAN & LEITRIM AS NANCY STEAMS
Brexit deadline accelerates restoration of 3ft gauge former ironstone quarry locomotive.
Britain’s anticipated departure from the EU prompted a fast-track rebuild of the Cavan & Leitrim Railway’s newest steam locomotive, which has steamed for the first time in 60 years, following a £160,000 restoration.
Three-foot gauge Avonside 0-6-0T Works No. 1547 Nancy moved under its own power for the first time since 1959 at Alan Keef Ltd’s workshops near Ross-on-Wye on March 23, marking the completion of its 22-year rebuild. Based there since 1997, it was a race to the finish to complete the former ironstone quarry engine before the expected Brexit date.
Cavan & Leitrim Railway manager Michael Kennedy said: “We were worried that after 20 years of work, we wouldn’t be able to get Nancy back into the country with a no-deal Brexit looming. Alan Keef completed four months’ worth of work in three and half weeks due to the time constraints that had been in place when Brexit had been anticipated to come into effect. We were, therefore, very relieved when the ferry was finally booked and Nancy was coming home.”
Nancy arrived at the C&LR’s headquarters at Dromod on March 28, almost 60 years to the day since the closure of the original C&LR on March 31 1959. The same day, the line’s resident 1916-built Kerr Stuart 0-4-2T Works No. 3024 Dromad was despatched back to Alan Keef for storage, pending restoration. It last steamed in 2004.
Nancy was built in 1908 and
delivered new to Stanton Ironworks Co. Ltd for use on its tramway serving the Woolsthorpe quarries in Leicestershire. It last steamed at the Eastwell Ironstone quarry in 1959 and was preserved by a group in Watnall, Nottinghamshire, in 1961. It was later sold to Lord O’Neill for his now-closed Shane’s Castle Railway in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, in 1972, but it was never restored.
Nancy was acquired by the Cavan & Leitrim Railway in 1997 after the SCR folded, and was immediately despatched to Alan Keef for restoration. Work was put on hold owing to the recession hitting rural Ireland particularly hard around the time of the 2008 global financial crisis, but resumed in earnest ahead of Brexit.
Patrick Keef of Alan Keef
Ltd said: “Nancy has had a comprehensive rebuild. Above the footplate nearly the entire locomotive is new with new boiler, tanks, cab, smokebox, bunker, quite a lot pipework, and cladding. The biggest challenge was getting her to a stage where she would be ready before March 29.”
Although the locomotive has no Irish credentials, it does incorporate a number of vintage Irish railway components, including a whistle from a Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway 4-8-4T and the chimney from an LMS Northern Counties Committee tank.