M&GN Society buys loco to aid North Norfolk Railway
HUNSLET 0-6-0ST Ring Haw has been sold by the North Norfolk Railway (NNR) to the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society (M&GNJRS) as part of a package devised to help the Sheringham to Holt line weather the coronavirus crisis.
The former Nassington Ironstone Quarries loco (1982/1940) was gifted to the railway upon its retirement from the Peterborough system in 1970.
It has enjoyed great popularity as a roving ambassador for the NNR over the years, most recently at the Spa Valley Railway, where it completed an extended hire back in January.
However, Ring Haw will shortly be due for overhaul, and by buying the loco from the railway the M&GNJRS has not only provided a substantial boost to the railway’s cash flow, but has taken over responsibility for the cost of its next overhaul.
The society now plans to bring this overhaul and other projects involving society locomotives forward in order to provide new business for the railway’s
Weybourne workshops, helping further to put much-needed cash in the bank.
The M&GNJRS has also agreed to buy the NNR’s two-car Eastern Region Metro-Cammell Class 101 DMU (Nos. E51228 and E56062), together with a road-going Allen-Grove crane, which came to the railway when it acquired the Chatham Steam Ltd business.
The unit entered NNR service back in 2004 and worked until 2013 when it was taken out of service for overhaul. It returned to traffic in 2018.
In addition, the NNR will benefit from reduced steaming fees on all M&GNJRS locomotives once passenger services resume after the current crisis passes.
NNR chairman Steve Allen said of the agreement: “I would like to thank the M&GNJRS for this speedy assistance at our time of need. Not only will this help the NNR get through the current crisis it also means Ring Haw is assured a safe future on the NNR.
“This will also see the loco overhauled more speedily than had been planned.”