Steam Locomotive Restoration of the Decade 2010-2019

For me, without a doubt...BIL.

 

35018!

Also clearly the commencement of the overhaul of T3 No.563.

 

GWS Railmotor set 92/93.

 

GNRI 131 after over 50 years out of use. Previously dismantled at a different site and then abandoned with parts lost and a new tender required.





Keith

 

SE&CR Birdcage No 3363.

From



to



(Not my photos)

I’d also suggest IWR No. 10: https://www.iwsteamrailway.co.uk/news/oldbury-no10-project-in-pictures-329.aspx

Tom

 

I think it has to be Galatea for me.

 

35006 P&O has to be a strong contender - how many other locos can claim to have been continuously under restoration since it left Barry, at the original railway it arrived at, for over 30 years?

 

6023 maybe despite it having a bit of bad luck at didcot G.W.S. recently, and the driving wheels had to be recast after some of driving wheels were partly gas axed through at barry scrapyard.

 

Midsomer Norton

 

Ah apologies Pete, I should have read the title! Feel free to move the post.

I think for clarity for projects that span across decades, the criterion for inclusion should really be the date the vehicle entered service. For example the T3 No 563 has been mentioned for starting, but in reality it should be a contender for the 2020s, not the last decade.

Anyway, happy new year everyone!

Tom

 

Not just an impressive resurrection of a loco which had a very patchy preservation history, much of it spent in bits at the back of sheds, but a restoration to mainline running of a Victorian loco! And a magnificent performer, by all accounts.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

 

Honestly, isn't it remarkable that any one of these restorations has been achieved, and utterly amazing that there have been so many of them?

 

RUSSELL being restored and returning to her original stomping ground of the WHR.
Pictured here at the limit of shunt at Beddgelert.

 

Hard to single one out but 45699 and 6023 are really good examples of 'Miracles we achieve every day, the impossible takes us a little bit longer' I really don't want to single anyone out so how about we just give a big pat on the back to those who roll their sleeves up, get stuck in, and then get asked the inevitable question 'what colours it going to be?'

 

There’s not many locomotives that have been restored this far back to their original design, including a change of cab roof and chimney, careful repainting including research undertaken for the cab and tender.

My bias and preference for all things LNER and no.35028 aside, the NNRs Y14 really stood out to me this decade. An absolutely beautiful pre grouping loco.

But then - what about this?



Again - I’m biased - ex employee with a great love of the Bluebell. But the H class looked absolutely exquisite after Heritage Painting had their mitts on it.

Again, pre grouping!

BUT WAIT. There’s more!



Another gorgeous tank engine, of the SVR. Is there anyone who doesn’t get excited by 813?

Look at it!

I think there’s a lot to be said for recognising though that it’s not just about the Barry wrecks but also the working locos that have been repeated restored and of late seen much research and hard work done into turning them out in their most historically accurate and I think most beautiful forms.

If I were to be controversial, Galatea would have been on my list were it not for inventing a livery that never happened on the loco in service. I see our role - whether sole loco owners as societies of individuals - as being custodians of the past, and it’s our job to get the balance right between practical necessities for running trains and historical accuracy.

It is only a coat of paint of course - but getting it wrong is disappointing, particularly when we consider the source of pride many painters took in their work historically, and the pride crews took in keeping their engines looking the part in earlier times.

Which is why I’d discount something like Galatea despite the amazing mechanical restoration but keep the Y14 in contention.

 

Definitely something in that suggestion. It’s a whole train too with the trailer!

Whatever shortlist you come up with, you need to define the criteria to judge fairly.

For me - I accept not for everyone - it’s going to be about a runner or non runner cosmetically restored to a condition that is as historically accurate as practically possible for its intended purpose. To that end, a mainline loco in the wrong livery goes out, but a non runner with casing added in the correct livery would go on (Hamilton though was 2009 so discounted).

 

Galatea without a doubt especially after seeing the wheels all cut up at Carnforth on the open day some years back .