Locomotives that NEARLY made it

This may have some crossover with another thread about locos that were scrapped later than others, but I’ve always been interested in the tales of locomotives that were earmarked for preservation, or an attempt was made to preserve them, but they were cut up anyway.

Just find it an interesting ‘what may have been’.

I’ve heard/read tales of the last Claud Hamilton being cut up by mistake, and Britannia 70036 nearly being saved until BR told its potential new owner he wouldn’t be allowed to run it on BR metals.

More recently there was the WD 2-8-0 that was stored in a Swedish tunnel along with the example now at the K&WVR. I’d heard it was intended for the Nene Valley, but a mix up led to it being scrapped.

Any other tales of unfortunate near-misses?

 

I'm sure we've had at least one thread that, even if it didn't start off with this as the topic, soon ended up so! Damned if I can find it though.

 

Well documented was 'Ben Alder.' A real tragedy IMO.
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/93049-scottish-locos-that-missed-preservation/

 

Ah, thanks @60017 , that helped me find it, here: https://www.national-preservation.c...locos-that-were-subsequently-scrapped.415389/ The other one that always gets brought up is the LBSCR K class but that one was harder on the search function.

 

I do not think that not running on BR was the killer of this plan. Right up to the end of steam BR insisted that any loco purchased had to be removed from BR property immediately and this scuppered several potential purchases as at that time there were few if any locations that could take a large loco to. Silver Link had a potential purchaser who had to let it go as there was nowhere to take it. Luckily Scots Guardsman found refuge in the unlikely location of Haworth. Likewise Princess Elizabeth was housed in a private siding in Ashchurch.

Peter

 

The Bluebell had the option of purchasing a K class loco as well as an E4 in late '62. How they would have loved to acquire both but finances at the time did not go that far. The result is that today we have Birch Grove, as it was considered more suited to the Bluebell's operation than the K would be. Pity though it is you cannot fault the thinking at the time.

Peter

 

As seen here:

Ray.

 

A lot of today's enthusiasts and volunteers possibly don't appreciate how different the preservation scene was at the end of B.R. steam compared with today. Getting hold of a loco was easy as industrials with a steel 'box could be had for less than a fiver a ton and many were given away. We paid 100 quid for our Barclay straight out of service with water in the boiler and coal in the bunker! Even Black 5's were only around 3k ready to go but bear in mind 3k would get you a modest house or six Minis in 1968. As Peter pointed out in an earlier post the big problem was finding somewhere to keep your new acquisition and, because of this, some locos 'got away'. Of today's s.g. heritage lines only the Bluebell and Middleton (then mainly a freight hauler) had been established for any length of time. The KWVR was just getting started, the SVR and the Dart Valley (today's SDR) were still a year away from opening. Of the 'Steam Centres' Steamtown was in its infancy as was Dinting. In the south there was Ashford and Longmoor both of which were short-lived. The GWS' collection was scattered across southern England with 1466 & 6998 at Totnes, 6106 at Taplow, 1365 at Bodmin and 7808 & 6697 at Ashchurch. Didcot MPD was still in use by B.R.
Even when a site had been found it was likely that any restoration would take place in the open air. 'Restoration' at the time would normally be restricted to minor repairs and a repaint. Unbelievably now industrial locos would be scrapped for want of a set of tubes or a few stays.
Let's not underestimate what we've achieved in the past half century.
Ray.

 

The big steam centre at the start of the steam starved seventies was Tyseley where the open days attracted many thousands of people who came to see 7029 and 5593 top and tailing some borrowed coaches over about half a mile of track. Other residents were 5428 and 1247, which were often joined by locos from the SVR and elsewhere. Other locos I remember attending were 6201 and 8233, plus one of the big Bagnalls from Austins.

 

Pat Whitehouse was very proud of the major work performed on Kolhapur shortly after arrival at Tyseley. Replacement of half the smokebox wrapper.
At the time this was a major task, unheard of in the preservation world.
It would become a regular task to replace the whole smokebox wrapper nowadays.
How things have moved on.

 

This brings to mind the sad fate of 45562 Alberta, passed-over for preservation as the driving wheel tyres were down to near scrapping size. If only it could have been bought to store for a few years... But back in the day, a set of tyres would have been prohibitively expensive for a small group of preservationists to fund...

Richard.

 

A couple of Isle of Wight examples - there was a Beyer-Peacock 2-4-0T kept aside after withdrawal in the 1930s but broken up during the war. Later, W31 “Chale” was almost bought by the Bluebell, but it came at the time that money was desperately needed to buy the line, and supposedly foundered because the transport couldn’t be afforded back to the mainland. I believe the spare O2 bogie at a Havenstreet is from that loco.

Tom

 

Sorry. How could I have overlooked Tyseley?
Ray.

 

We should not forget KESR "Northiam" which starred as "Gladstone" in "Oh Mr Porter" - stored at Eastleigh for possible preservation along with Drummond's Bug. Both scrapped for the war effort. A bit more recently, the Terrier which Bulleid restored as the Brighton Works shunter IIRC was not preserved.

If you want some more obscure ones, the 4ft gauge Padarn Railway Hunslet 0-6-0Ts. And there was a unique 7ft gauge industrial tank loco which survived on a harbour railway in North Wales until about 1950 which really should have been saved.

 

Speaking of the IoW, when David Williams was looking for possible rolling stock for the SVR in January 1967, he was offered seven LSWR O2 tanks by BR at £900 each (of which only one example survives) and four coaches at £80 each. Pickfords reckoned it would cost another £4,000 to get them across the Solent so that was a non-starter.

He next looked at Ivatt 2-6-2Ts on the mainland and he was offered eight (41224/230/284/295/298/312/319/320) at £1,300 each (of which only 298/312 survived). Something larger? 76016 was available at £1,645, 34005 Barnstaple at £1,700 or Q1 33006 at £2,198, none of which survived. There were lots of others that could be had. They all sound ridiculously cheap these days but it was a lot of money back then, especially for a fledgling society that was nowhere near being able to afford to buy the line to run them on.

 

Am I right in thinking that the Bluebell was offered or had the chance to buy 80154? I think the railway was still raising money to but the line off BR at the time so they couldn't. Happy to be corrected though.

 

I think that is mentioned somewhere on the Bluebell Railway’s website.

Of course they do now have 80151 based on the line (originally preserved at the EARM I think?)

 

I have no means of verifying this but I was informed by someone involved from the B.R. side that the "K" (recently overhauled) was available for £500. He had never forgiven the Bluebell for their decision.

 

80151 certainly was originally preserved at Chappel back in 1975, purchased direct from Woodhams as the SVRPS own loco, sold to a group of members in 1987 to raise funds to enable purchase if the EARM site from BR.