Galatea Ownership

A pal pointed out that the SVR Wiki pages contain the information that Galatea's ownership passed to the Beet family (The Jubilee locomotive Co. Ltd.) last September. Must admit that had passed me by. Previously owned by North of England Historic Railway trust.

https://www.svrwiki.com/LMS_Stanier_Jubilee_45699_Galatea

 

I've just looked and before anyone gets too excited, that's not what it says!

5699 in preservation
She was purchased in 1980 by Leander Locomotive Limited as a source of spare parts for her sister engine. Both were purchased by SVR(H) in November 1983 as part of the deal to acquire Leander. At that time Galatea was stored at Carnforth in ex-Barry condition, but in April 1987 space was no longer available at Carnforth and Galatea was moved to the SVR, still being regarded as no more than a source of parts.

In winter of 1994 the SVR(H) Board announced the sale of 45690 Leander and 45699 Galatea to the family of Dr. Peter Beet.

I think the operative part here is"1994"! Presumably at some point after that it was sold on. I wonder if any parts from it were used on "Leander" in the end.

 

"45699 Galatea is a sister engine of former resident 45690 Leander. As of 2019 she is owned by the Beet family, and operated on the main line by West Coast Railways."
- could just be misreporting or bad grammar but the Beet's have owned Leander for years.

In 1994/5 Peter Beet did want Galatea, but was eventually supportive of rival bidders the Galatea Locomotive Consortium's efforts to restore 5699, and encouraged his colleagues to support them. Perhaps the wheel has come full circle.

 

I don't think there were that many useable parts left other than big lumps, such as boiler, cylinders, bogie and wheels, most of the wheels anyway. I remember it being very heavily stripped at Barry.

 

I've checked back on the announcements in SVR News. The original announcement in Winter 1994 was "By the time you read these notes, most of you will have heard that the Holdings Company has sold 'Leander' and possibly 'Galatea'." It aslo noted that "The new owners of 'Leander' are the family of Dr. Peter Beet, best known currently for their ownership of Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 No 6441." The next edition in Spring 1995 added "...and with the proceeds of the 'Leander' sale, now followed by that of 'Galatea', cash flow is fairly healthy."

The exact sales details of Galatea were not recorded, although it appears to have been a separate transaction to that of Leander and to have been completed by early 1995. However I am uncertain on the ownership immediately after the sale by the SVR as the North of England Historic Railway Trust (whose 2019 accounts confirm they are indeed the owners of Galatea) was not incorporated until 2002 according to Companies House.

Thanks for raising the question. I've updated the Wiki accordingly.

Robin