Handyman goes to ‘Workshop X’ for cosmetic restoration – as works gets underway on Luttermöller
STATFOLD Narrow Gauge Museum Trust’s (SNGMT) 3ft gauge Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST 573/1900 Handyman was moved to ‘Workshop X’ in north Derbyshire on April 12.
The boiler, lifted at Statfold in advance of the move, was delivered with the frames, motion and valve gear, while the cab and saddle tank have been sent to a separate location for grit blasting.
Handyman was originally built for the Burton Ironstone Company in Northamptonshire and its working life ended in 1963 at Scaldwell Quarry. It entered preservation under private ownership but was never fully restored.
Acquired by the National Railway Museum in 2008 but still not having been restored, custodianship was offered to interested organisations in 2020. It was permanently transferred to SNGMT the following year (RM, July 2021) and displayed, in semi-dismantled condition, in the Grain store museum since the end of May 2021.
It is SNGMT’s only 3ft gauge locomotive and the volunteer team at ‘Workshop X’ will undertake a cosmetic restoration, there never having been any intention to return Handyman to operation.
Stripping down of the 2ft gauge 0-10-0T Orenstein & Koppel with Luttermöller articulation which arrived at ‘Workshop X’ on March 29 (RM, May) has continued. The identity of the loco purchased by Matt Dolby has been confirmed as OK10956/1925 which had the running number 7/T907 at the Argentinian sugar mill from where it was originally imported.
Of the five Luttermöller O&K 0-10-0s originally imported and for sale at Preston Services, works number 13101 was sold in 2018 and went to the Republic of China, and 11309/1927 went to the Böhmetalbahn in Walsrode, Germany in November 2019. With the sale of OK10956/1925 it is understood that works numbers 10957 and 12470 remain at the Kent site.