T ARE WE REALLY TALKING ABOUT ‘THORNBURY’… OR PENRICE CASTLE?
Like any other steam locomotive that has had several general overhauls, there really aren’t many original components left, writes former SR editor HOWARD JOHNSTON.
his certainly applies to No. 7027 Thornbury Castle,
whose eviscerated remains are scarcely what emerged from Swindon Works’ erecting shop back in August 1949.
The boiler that is now controversially earmarked for the 2‑8‑0 ‘Night Owl’ project is not really much to do with ‘Thornbury’, except that it had carried it for the last three years of its working life, and the subsequent 58 years in Barry scrapyard and at a host of preservation sites.
The boiler at the centre of all this controversy was built for sister No. 7023 Penrice Castle, a Cardiff Canton engine for much of its life. It was also rotated during its 24‑year lifespan to (including) Nos. 7031 Cromwell’s Castle, 5083 Bath Abbey, 5065 Newport Castle,
and 5099 Compton Castle.
Irwell Press’ definitive The Book of the Castle 4‑6‑0s by Ian Sixsmith, published in 2009, is an excellent starting point for those interested in knowing where major components for all 171 engines in the fleet started life and were they ended up. The data has to be taken with a pinch of salt, however, because works and depot record cards were often not completed accurately, particularly towards the end of steam traction.
Unless new ones were cast, even ‘Thornbury’s’ brass nameplates were second‑hand, having been carried for a month in 1937 on No. 5063 Earl Baldwin before this example of a batch of ‘Castles’ was renamed after Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin following his resignation and elevation to the Peerage.
It seems curious now that Swindon was allowed to perpetuate the production of a quite complex albeit long‑ lived four‑cylinder design when BR’s two‑cylinder standard ‘Britannia’ 4‑6‑2s would soon be in the offing. The Western Region still imagined it was the GWR, of course, and CME Charles Collett’s ‘Castles’ were, to put it politely, a comfort zone update of Churchward’s ‘Stars’ that had been around since 1907.
All this was drawing to a close, however, when No. 7027 arrived at Plymouth Laira shed in November 1949, attached to a new 4,000‑gallon flat‑sided Hawksworth tender. The engine is recorded as having 13 tender changes in its lifetime, and photographs also show it with the Collett version for the mid‑1950s, including its final eight years in traffic, and it went to Barry with one.
No. 7027 only spent 18 months in the West Country before migrating to Old Oak Common, and would have been a familiar sight on top link services, including ‘The Bristolian’ and ‘Royal Duchy’.
A move to Worcester would herald its use on the ‘Cathedrals Express’ prior to dieselisation.
When new, ‘Thornbury’ ran in as‑built condition for four years before its first heavy general overhaul at its birthplace in early 1953, which took six weeks. In a routine procedure, it was fitted with a freshly repaired boiler taken from No. 7026 Tenby Castle, and a tender swap also took place.
Moving forward to ‘Thornbury’s’ next heavy general, completed in December 1956, it acquired a different boiler again, this time from No. 7010 Avondale Castle.
Finally, 7027’s fourth and final boiler, the one at the centre of the current controversy, enters the frame. It was fitted during the engine’s last heavy general at Swindon in early 1960, having come from No. 5032 Usk Castle.
So, what became of ‘Thornbury’s’ original boiler? It certainly did the rounds, spending time with No. 5083 Bath Abbey from mid‑1957 to January 1959. When this engine was condemned, it was taken off and overhauled for two years with No. 5065 Newport Castle.
Its final employment was with No. 5099 Compton Castle,
and with its condemnation in February 1963 was broken up a long way from home at Archie King’s scrapyard in Norwich.