The RCTS: then and now
THE Railway Observer (RO) has become an invaluable research tool and makes the annual subscription a veritable bargain.
Being able to trace the rebuilding of Bulleid 'Merchant Navy' class
Pacific No. 35018 British India Line, its subsequent service history, withdrawal, preservation and eventual return to the main line is a prime example that research of its pages allows.
The index to Volume XXVI for
1956 carries nine references to the rebuilding. The first, in the February issue, is an ex-works photograph of
No. 35018 taken by Les Elsey at Eastleigh, which precedes the article Rebuilding of the SR Bulleid Pacifies.
Here, the desirability of rebuilding the class is outlined along with the main features to be modified. The choice of No. 35018 was down to serendipity, it was the next 'Merchant Navy' due for a heavy general repair.
Full specifications of the rebuild followed in the April edition, along with the news it entered traffic on February 21 between Eastleigh and Waterloo.
Further reports followed during the year noting the expected savings in coal, water and oil consumption were of the order of 25% to 33%. However, feedback from drivers and firemen collated in June's RO noted '35018' lacked some of the 'exceptionally rapid acceleration' and 'hill climbing' ability and free running in excess of 90mph.
No complaints were received of the boiler's ability to produce steam even with the pressure reduced from 280psi to 250psi. The August edition of the RO reported Nos. 35013/4/20/2 had all been similarly modified at Eastleigh. The last of the class,
No. 35028 Clan Line, was modified in October 1959.
After testing, No. 35018 was re-allocated to Nine Elms shed and later to Bournemouth on November
24, 1960, only to return to Nine Elms on January 17, 1961.
It was one of the early withdrawals after general repairs ceased and was condemned in August 1964. After being stored at Nine Elms it was sold to Woodham Brothers at Barry.
Following a 15-year sojourn the Pacific was bought by the Mid-Hants Railway on November 29, 1979, and transported to Ropley on March 3, 1980.
Little work was undertaken before the loco was stored at South Coast Steam, Portland, in May 2003. Nine years later, West Coast Railways, at Carnforth, became the owners, and according to the RO in May
2012, Carnforth became its latest preservation home.
The difference, however, was that behind closed doors No. 35018 was meticulously given a general repair, returning to steam in May 2017.
Test runs over the Hellifield circuit were reported, with the locomotive running in unlined black.
The long-awaited first railtour took place on September 30, 2017 from Carnforth to York, but those who witnessed the run and those who later saw the photographs in the RO realised all was not well and were not surprised at 35018's failure at York.
A further test run to Hellifield ended in failure on March 7, 2018, but two weeks later it emerged from Carnforth in fine fettle.
It is not just the history of steam that can be reconstructed from the magazine's pages - the detail of today's motive power receives the same treatment.
For information on the Society visit: www.rcts.org.uk