Terrier Trust to outshop 'Rooter' as LBSCR Poplar
AN OPERATIONAL example of William Stroudley's popular 'Terrier'0-6--0Ts will once again carry the London, Brighton &
South Coast Railway's (LBSCR) yellow ochre livery when the Terrier Trust's No. 3 Bodiam returns to steam after overhaul in 2022.
The last UK-based 'Terrier' to run in Stroudley's livery, often referred to as 'lmproved Engine Green; was the Bluebell Railway's 'A 1X' No. 55
Stepney in c2009.
The livery is also carried by 'A1'/'A1X' hybrid No. 54 Waddon at Exporail in Canada, and 'A1'No. 82
Boxhi/1 at the National Railway Museum, but like Stepney these locos are on static display and not capable of being steamed.
Bodiam is currently under overhaul at North Norfolk Railway Engineering's Weybourne works as part of the Terrier Trust's £150,000'Terrier 150' appeal. This was launched in early-2019 to fund parallel overhauls of Bodiam, together with No. 32678 (Knowle).
Wing plates
As part of Bodiam's overhaul, it will revert to its original guise as LBSCR No. 70 Poplar, complete with dummy condensing pipes and smokebox wing plates as fitted when first outshopped in 1872.
No. 70 was the first of SO 'Terriers'to be constructed that year, and one of the first batch to enter service.
After almost three decades with the LBSCR it moved to the original Kent & East Sussex Railway (Rother Valley Railway) in 1901, and was a regular performer until the line closed to passengers in the 1950s.
As BR No. 32670, it later found use on the Hayling Island branch before being acquired for preservation, returning to the preserved KESR in 1964.
During its tenure on the'old' KESR, No. 3 received its distinctive tall bunker, and was rebuilt with a new boiler as an 'A1X'.
As a consequence the longer 'A1X' smokebox and enlarged bunker will not be replaced, as they have more relevance to the loco's history than the original pattern example.
"The aim is to conjure up the general appearance of the locomotive in her original 1872 livery;' explained Terrier Trust spokesman Graham Hukins.
"We will achieve a far greater degree of authenticity in 2024 when the loco will be turned out in another livery it has never worn in preservation: KESR deep green lined with straw and black, which she carried following an overhaul at Brighton in 1947:' More than £55,000 of the £150,000 appeal target has been raised to date, much of which has been spent on the overhaul of Knowle at the KESR's Rolvenden workshops.
Warming fire
The locds boiler received its first warming fire in late-February, almost exactly 80 years since the'Rooter; as Southern Railway No. 2678, first arrived at the old KESR on hire to cover a'temporary' locomotive shortage.
At that time the loco still carried the larger bunker fitted in the early-1930s when based on the
Isle ofWight system as No. W14 Bembridge, and as part of the overhaul the Isle ofWight bunker has been reinstated.
Initially, it will carry Southern plain black with 'sunshine' lettering on the tank sides, but the restoration ofthe'Wight' bunker opens the door for a potential return to its Isle ofWight identity as No. Wl 4.
In due course the larger bunker will benefit the loco's future operation as, with a potential return to Robertsbridge on the cards, the larger bunker would allow the loco to complete two round trips from Tenterden to Robertsbridge without the need to replenish the coal supply.
Had it not been for the Covid-19 lockdown the loco would likely have been complete by now, and potentially enjoying an exchange visit at Didcot Railway Centre in return for the visit by GWR Large Prairie No. 4144 to the KESR.
Further information on Terrier 1SO' and details of how to contribute to the appeal can be found at: www.TerrierTrust.org. uk/appeal