LANCASHIRE & YORKSHIRE RAILWAY SADDLE TANK PASSES STEAM TEST
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0ST No. 752 is on course for a return to service this spring, having passed its official steam test.
The Aspinall class ‘23’ underwent its insurance examination at the East Lancashire Railway on December 16, being signed off by the boiler inspector at 2.30pm, before it was coupled to a rake of carriages for a brake test.
The insurance test had originally been expected in January – but, said John Sagar of its owning group, the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Trust: “Since the boiler inspector was off on holiday for a month after Christmas, he did the in-steam inspection on December 16, having already been satisfied with the cold inspection.
“Weighing the locomotive will be the next major task and it is anticipated that running-in will start in mid-January.”
As well as having its worn axleboxes built up, the engine has received new LYR-pattern spring hangers, to replace the “rather primitive” fittings that it had received in National Coal Board service.
A launch event for trust members is planned in late February, and the locomotive is expected to make its public debut at the ELR’s Spring Steam Gala on March 6-8. It made its first moves under its own steam for nearly 40 years on October 24 (SR499).
Originally built in 1881 by Beyer Peacock as a Barton Wright class ‘25’ 0-6-0 (classmate to No. 957 at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway), No. 752 was rebuilt as a saddle tank at Horwich Works in 1896, one of 230 ‘Ironclads’ so treated.
Sold out of LMS stock into colliery use in 1937, it was saved for preservation by the then L&Y Saddletanks Fund in 1968 and arrived at the KWVR in 1971, first steaming there the following year.
It went on to take part in the ‘Rocket 150’ cavalcade at Bold in 1980, but last steamed at the KWVR in the early 1980s. The partially overhauled engine moved to the ELR in 2016 for completion.