NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY ‘T3’ (LNER ‘Q7’) NO. 901 (1990-1998)
The North Eastern Locomotive Preservation Group’s association with the NER ‘T3’ (LNER ‘Q7’) No. 901 goes back to 1967, when the late John Scholes, then curator of Historical Relics at Clapham in London, was approached in connection with the possible loan of the 0‑8‑0 – then in BR livery as No. 63460 in store at Hellifield. This was the same year that the NYMR was founded, but following its opening in 1973, an inspection at Brighton (where the engine was then stored) was carried out by NELPG volunteers.
This revealed a boiler that had obviously had a general overhaul and done little work. The full extent of the boiler’s good condition was brought firmly home when a washout door was removed to look at the foundation ring and the volunteers got drenched, as the boiler was still full of water nine years after its last steaming on BR.
On April 7 1978, following No. 63460’s movement from Brighton to York, a formal agreement was reached between NELPG and the NRM’s John Coiley for a ten‑year loan of the ‘Q7’ and for its overhaul to working order to be undertaken by NELPG volunteers at an estimated cost of only £3,000.
It was towed from York to Grosmont by National Collection Class 31 diesel No. D5500, arriving on April 7. It was initially stored at Goathland, but after Deviation Shed was constructed by NELPG volunteers, it became the first locomotive to be moved inside. Owing to keeping ‘P3’ No. 2392 and ‘T2’ No. 3395 in traffic on the NYMR, and ‘K1’ No. 2005 working railtours, the ‘Q7’s’ overhaul did not start until February 1980, and it could only progress when time allowed as no work was contracted out. A full mechanical overhaul was undertaken, including axleboxes, while the boiler was fully re‑tubed and overhauled.
NRM CME John Bellwood had instructed the engine had to be repainted in LNER livery as No. 901 and when this was completed, its first steaming was on July 18 1990. The ‘Q7’ entered traffic on August 20 that year, and then saw regular use on the NYMR’s heaviest trains until 1998 when it was withdrawn from traffic at the expiry of its boiler certificate, having covered 23,428 miles.
NELPG’s ‘Q7’ engineer, Maurice Burns, reflects: “The ‘Q7’ was a truly magnificent locomotive of immense power, yet with a 180lb/sq. in boiler of good NER design, it required no boiler repairs during its years of operation. The tubes fitted all those years ago by NELPG volunteers lasted right through and are still in the locomotive to this very day. Maybe this successful period of NYMR operation should not be its last?”
The locomotive is now on display at the Head of Steam Museum at North Road station in Darlington.