THE only working example of a fireless locomotive in Britain will be a star of the West Somerset Railway’s Autumn Steam Gala this weekend (October 17 to 19).
“Boots Number 1” will be one of a trio of locomotives at the event which spent much of their lives in industrial service rather than on a railway.
Fireless locomotives were used in locations where a live fire or spark emission would be hazardous and instead of a boiler their power was derived from a tank which was charged with high pressure steam created well away from flammable materials.
The unique engine, a first-time visitor to the WSR, will show its paces in demonstrations in the Minehead station yard, as will Caledonia Works 1219.
This engine, which spent many years at a Stewarts and Lloyds works in the steel making town of Motherwell, was restored to working life at Williton in 2016. The gala will be its last public appearance before its next overhaul.
Somewhat larger than these is Great Western Railway 813. It was originally built for the Port Talbot Railway, part of a combined enterprise that saw a new harbour built on the South Wales coast and a railway constructed to compete for the coal traffic from the South Wales coalfields.
Engine 813 was built for shunting and local freight work. The Port Talbot Railway always worked closely with the Great Western before being amalgamated into the GWR in 1922. The Great Western Railway standardised its locomotive fleet as much as possible and 813 and its classmates were displaced by the ever growing fleet of the highly successful 57xx pannier tanks.
After that, all bar one of the half dozen engines in the class were sold to collieries in South Wales apart from 813 which was acquired by the locomotive building and repair firm Robert Stephenson and Company (originally established by George Stephenson and his son Robert) who refurbished it and sold it into colliery service near Newcastle upon Tyne.
It served its new owners well and passed into the fleet of the National Coal Board when the mines were nationalised.
With the contraction of coal mining in Britain, number 813 was finally withdrawn, by which time it was the only surviving Port Talbot Railway locomotive but was saved from scrap by the GWR 813 Trust.
It has not visited the West Somerset Railway since 2001 and on this occasion it will work demonstration freight wagons owned by the Trust on Friday and Saturday, with some passenger trains between Minehead and Blue Anchor on Sunday.
The other steam locomotives which will feature in the October event are the London and South Western Railway T3 engine number 563, making its West Somerset Railway debut, and a trio of Great Western designed engines, 5029 “Nunney Castle”, 7828 “Odney Manor” and “Mogul” 9351. All will operate a frequent service of passenger trains between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead. Visitors can also see the work in progress on the heritage carriages project at Washford.
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