Steam News from Railways Illustrated

Cheltenham moves to Eastleigh

Southern Railway Maunsell V Class 925 Cheltenham arrived at Eastleigh works on October 7 for inspection with a view to returning the locomotive to traffic. The ‘Schools’ class is owned by the National Collection and initial inspections at York indicated it to be in good overall condition, though the asbestos boiler lagging prevented a detailed examination at its National Railway Museum (NRM) base.
The locomotive was last given a full overhaul by British Railways shortly before its withdrawal in 1962, but it briefly steamed in preservation from 1979 when it was used in the ‘Rocket 150’ cavalcade at Rainhill. Its last main line working occurred on May 5 1980, after which a burst tube prompted its withdrawal from service at the erstwhile Dinting Railway Centre and it was returned to the NRM, since which time it has been on static display.
Should the inspection at Eastleigh illustrate that a return to steam is feasible – as is expected with so little use since its BR overhaul – the locomotive will be overhauled and return to traffic at the Mid Hants Railway, where it will join another, National Collection-owned SR Maunsell locomotive, LN class namesake 850 Lord Nelson.

The original ‘Brit’ is back

BR Standard Class 7 namesake 70000 Britannia returned to steam at the Crewe Heritage Centre on September 30 when the locomotive made several runs up and down the demonstration line. A date for main line test runs was due to be announced as we closed for press.
The ‘Brit’ dates from 1951, was withdrawn from BR service in 1966 and was originally offered for preservation in the National Collection, but 70013 Oliver Cromwell was deemed to be in more suitable condition and was selected instead. Fortunately, Britannia was privately preserved and after a period of heritage line running it returned to the main line in 1991, last hauling a charter in 1997.
The latest overhaul began when the locomotivewas sold to current owner Jeremy Hosking. A vast amount of work has been undertaken, including the construction of a new smokebox and new tubes, tubeplates and boiler wrappers. The copper inner firebox has also seen extensive repair work completed. Below the running plate, the cylinders and valve gear have been refurbished. Elsewhere, a new cab has been fitted to bring the locomotive’s loading gauge within that required for main line running.
Air braking equipment is also being fitted to the ‘Brit’ to allow it to work with various charter operators’ stock, although this is not expected to be complete for the first main line tests. The smoke deflectors are also expected to be omitted for the first runs in order to improve visibility for observations of the locomotive’s performance.

SVR anniversary gala number struggles…

The Severn Valley Railway’s September 24-26 40th anniversary gala featured a significant roster of visiting locomotives, including LMS Stanier ‘Jubilee’ 5690 Leander, GWR Collett 3205 and ever-popular 3717 City of Truro and Bulleid ‘Spamcan’ 34070 Manston. Another short-notice visitor arrived in the shape of the West Somerset Railway’s GWR ‘Small Prairie’ 5542, drafted in to fill the gap on the roster that occurred when ‘Stanier Mogul’ 42968 was withdrawn following the discovery of cracks in the driving wheels.
The popular and now-expected intensive continuous day and night service was again employed, with trains running from 0800 on September 24 to 2000 on 26, with over 350 steam movements and train departures altogether.
Nonetheless, the expected visitor numbers failed to materialise for the event organisers, with around 5,900 fare-paying passengers turning out to enjoy the gala rather than the 6,500 hoped for. The corresponding drop in revenue was around £30,000, approximately the same sum as was spent bringing in the guest locomotives. However, the number of passengers carried was still around 400 higher than for the same event last year, indicating that despite the continuing recession such events are still a draw for enthusiasts.

WHR works first Porthmadog passenger

The Welsh Highland railway operated the first passenger train through Porthmadog since 1936 on September 29 in the shape of a special working from Pont Croesor to Minfford for Ffestiniog Railway directors and trustees. The level crossings at Britannia Bridge and Snowdon Street had not been fully commissioned so the train operated under an engineers’ possession. All crossings were expected to be fully operational by the end of October ready to accept the first through trains from Caernarfon to Porthmadog.