BARTON WRIGHT CLASS ‘25’ 0-6-0 No. 957 (BR No. 52044)
In stark contrast to its elaborately lined, but still black, Lancashire & Yorkshire colour scheme, the last surviving Barton Wright ‘Ironclad’ 0-6-0 made a striking sight in its early preservation career on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway – wearing a bright green ‘Great Northern & Southern Railway’ livery for its starring role as ‘The Green Dragon’ in the 1970 film The Railway Children.
It had arrived on the KWVR five years earlier, in March 1965, but remarkably, had already been in preservation for more than a decade. Its then owner, Tony Cox, had acquired it from BR upon withdrawal in 1959, initially keeping it at Retford.
Used occasionally at the KWVR in the 1970s and 1980s, it was later transferred into the ownership of the Bowers 957 Trust, and overhauled again in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Its latest stint of operation lasted from March 2002 to January 2013.
It is now nearing the end of a further overhaul at Haworth, with the aim of returning it to steam this year in its ‘Green Dragon’ livery, to mark 50 years since the filming of The Railway Children.
Volunteer Mike Curtis told Steam Railway in mid-January: “The frames, running gear and motion are virtually complete and, together with the tender (which needed very little remedial work), are in the process of being prepared for painting. Many of the boiler fittings have been overhauled, and a new set of gauge frames have been purchased, along with firebars.
“The boiler requires a little more attention to repair a small crack and restore two stud holes near the regulator shaft hole in the backhead; we plan to have that done very soon. Otherwise, the boiler is fully tubed and hopefully hydraulic and steam testing (out of the frames) will take place before the middle of March. We have a provisional date of the end of March or early April to have the boiler lifted back into the frames, obviously dependent on the necessary testing being successful beforehand.
“Most of the remaining work is then re-assembly of the pipework, fittings, cladding, etc and, of course, final painting.
“We are still mindful of the KWVR
Railway Children event in August this year which still remains the target for 957’s return to traffic (but it’s not a deadline!).”