The Railway Magazine – August 2019

80151returndelayed at Bluebell Railway

RIDDLES‘4MT’2-6-4T No.80151
is back in operation following
overhaulat theBluebellRailway.
TheBrighton-built locohas
not worke dsincewithdrawal
foroverhaul inMay2012, and
over the pastfour years has
received anextensiveoverhaul
and boilerrepairsto the tune

of almost £360,000. Nearly half

of thiswascontributedby the

BluebellRailway Trust and the

loco’sowninggroup, the80151

LocomotiveCompany.

Afull repainthas been

completedby HeritagePainting,

and on July3the‘StandardTank’

wasundergoing its first trial

runs,includingaloadedtest

run. It wasplannedto have the

locoinrevenue-earning traffic

on July 27, but thiswasdelayed

by whatthe BluebellRailway

described as“a lack ofresources”.

Theprecise natureofthis

could not be ascertained as this

issue ofTheRMwent to press.

BR‘4MT’No.80151works aloadedtest traintowardsSheffieldPark at theBluebellRailway on July 3.
Thelocoise xpectedtojoin theroster this summer.DAVID CABLE

OVERHAULof the Dartmouth

Steam Railway’s GWR 2-8-0T

No.5239Goliathby the East

SomersetRailway reachedakey

stage on July 23 when the loco’s

No.4boilerwas reunited with

the frames.

Re-tubing of the boilerwas

completedat theend ofMay

and,followingasuccessful

hydraulictest on June 14, it

passed its out-of-frames steam

test at thebeginning of July.

New barrel cladding has been

laser cut androlled,although

the old fireboxcladding has

been refurbishedforfurther use.

No.5239 is seen standing on

Dartmouth’sGoliathrega ins

itsboile ratCranmoreworks

theworkshopat Cran moreon

July 23 ,just hours afterthe

boiler had been lowere dinto

plac e.PETER NICHOLSON

August2019 •TheRailway Magazine•75

Main line Travelling Post

Office runtomark85th

anniversary of Night Mail?

“THIS is theNightMail crossing

the border,Bringing the cheque

and the postal order...”

WHAuden’s opening lines

to 1936’sevocativ eGPO

documentaryfilmNightMail

about thework of theTravelling

Post Office (TPO)are knownby

thousands,and to manyconjure

images ofFowler4-6-0s on the

West Coast Mail Line,footplate

crew sworking hard, andthe

stunning scenerynorth ofCarlisle.

Theshortfilm, which is

regarded asaclassic,will be 85

years old in 2021, andto mark

the anniversarythe GreatCentral

Railway-basedRail Vehicle

Preservations (RVP)groupplans

to takeasix-coach TPO set

back onto the main linefora

steam-hauled run between

Derbyand Bristol.

“Why would we want to do this?

Whynot,ist he simple answer.

It’s certainly differentand will

hopefullyexciteand educate

those who see the train out on

the main line,” RVPsaid on its

website.

Thefactthat2021 is also the

50 thanni versaryoft he last main

lineTPOexchan ge at Penrith is

also afactorbehind the proposal.

Network Rail hasgivenits

approval to the scheme,and RVP

has launcheda£45,000 appealto

fund the necessaryupgrade work

to makethe Mk1 TPO stock main

line compliant.

It said:“Our sixcoaches will

needamorethroughexam

than usual.Thereisaworld of

differencebetween running on a

heritage line and‘going main line’.

“Weneed to ra ise fundsforan

approved engineerto inspectthe

vehicles,and the possibilitythat

theremay be somerepairs and

renewalsto be carried out.”

Oncethis has been

accomplishedRVPcan obtain

an engineering acceptance

certificate,which will enable the

stockto be re-reg istered on the

rolling stock library.

Thegroup also hopesto

repaintfiveoft he vehicles prior

to venturing onto the national

network.

As yetaTrain Operating

Companyhas not been selected

to operate the train onRVP’s

behalf,but it is hoped normal

coaching stock can be included

in the trainto enable passengers

to travel on this one-off run.

Fordetails on howyou can

help visitwww.justgiving.com/

campaign/nightmail85 or send

acheque,made payable to RVP

Ltd,with‘NightMail 85’written

on the backto:RVP (Night

Mail 85 Appeal), Spinney Close,

Main Street,KibworthHarcourt,

Leicester,LE8 0NQ

‘BlackFive’No. 45305race sthrou gh Quorn &Woodhouse station

duringaTPO runat theGreat CentralRailway on January26. This

is the stock theRail VehiclePreservation group hopesto put on

themain line in 2021.CLIVE HANLEY

HEAVYFREIGHT2-8-0 No.48624
waswithdrawnfromservic eat
the GreatCentralRailway (GCR)
at the end of July pending its
next 10-yearly overhaul.The
Stanier‘8F’has beenastalwart

member of the GCR steam fleet,

and on June 26took partina

special‘8Fs’charterorganised

by TimelineEvents ,and also

featuring classmate No.48305.

Thelatterlocomotivereturned

fromoverhaul justafew months

ago,and will takeNo. 48624’s

placeint he GCR’s operating

fleet.The twolocos ar eseen

passingat Kinchley Lane during

the Timeline charter.PETER ZABEK

‘8F’ 48642bowsout at GreatCentr al

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