Shackerstone homecoming for Peckett Teddy

UNIQUE Peckett ‘Yorktown’ 0-4-0ST Teddy (2012/1941) is to return to the Leicestershire railway it once called home after an agreement was reached that will see it once again based at the Battlefield Line. The pocket-sized former Royal Ordnance Factory locomotive first took up residence at Shackerstone in 1972, following its acquisition by the Rev E R ‘Teddy’ Boston, whose famous Cadeby Light Railway was just a short distance away. It was here that the loco was returned to steam for the first time in the preservation era by members of the Lutterworth Railway Society, after which it acquired the name Herbert. Yet by 1982 there was little work for such a small machine, and it was removed to the Cadeby Light Railway that year, where it remained on static display until being sold in 2005. Since being returned to steam for the second time in 2007, Teddy (as it was renamed) has been based at the Lavender Line, the National Railway Museum, and since 2015 at the Chasewater Railway. Its last boiler ticket expired in late 2017 and it has been waiting its turn in the overhaul queue ever since. However, despite a strong desire to see the popular little loco back in traffic at Chasewater, commitments to the upkeep of the operating fleet, and a change in circumstances of the loco’s owner, meant that Teddy’s overhaul was not likely to be completed for some time. Consequently, it has been agreed that Teddy will leave the railway so that the overhaul can be carried out closer to the owner’s home. With its strong associations with Shackerstone and the area in general, the Battlefield Line is the obvious choice, and the railway is delighted to offer it the chance to return home.