35006 – 'Peninsular and Oriental S. N. Co' returns

I offered to take Helena to 'Nature in Art' in Twigworth again. She had hoped to get on a course there but it had been fully booked, but we decided to visit anyway. I also wanted to visit the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, our local heritage railway, because this engine had finally re-entered service after many years spent being completely rebuilt at their 'works'.  I had seen the engine in their yard last year before it was steamed and had been waiting for the chance to see it in action.

As a kid I lived in a town in Surrey, part of the then southern Region of the railway system, where these engines passed by everyday on their way to the west of England towns and cities. I was enthralled by steam engines before I reached ten years old and I still really like seeing and hearing them, so very evocative of the world of the Fifties and Sixties, before music and becoming a teenager took over.

I found out that today and tomorrow were the last days when this engine will currently be used in daily operations on the railway. So I drove us to watch it from a bridge near to Toddington, where we spent a delightful few minutes in the sunny countryside. The train appeared rather suddenly and passed by just as quickly and I've added a picture of the scene to the 'Extra photos'. But I am blipping a picture taken half an hour later as the engine was being prepared in the yard for its next journey south from Toddington. I like to see the men working with their iron horses to keep them ready for work.

The rest of the day was busy, and included a visit to Liz, who was the artist in residence this week at 'Nature in Art'.  She is a good friend and I was delighted to be able to buy one of her art works, one that is somewhat different from her usual creations. I expect I will use it as the subject of a blip one day. 

35006 – 'Peninsular and Orient S. N. Co' is one of the Merchant Navy class of pacific locomotives and was formerly withdrawn from regular service in August 1964, with a final mileage of 1,134,319. It was bought by Dai Woodham for £350 and sent to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. Whilst at the scrapyard the tender, which was notable in that it had had it for its entire working life, was sold to a group restoring another Merchant Navy locomotive, and many fittings were removed from the engine. The remains of 35006 were purchased for preservation in 1983 with the intention of restoring it to running order. The locomotive was moved to Toddington, the principal station of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. It was the 144th locomotive to leave the scrapyard.

Restoration has been a long drawn out affair. On 10 August 2015 35006 moved under its own power for the first time in under 50 years, albeit only with two of the three cylinders connected. During April and May of 2016 the loco undertook light engine and loaded test runs. The first public runs were during the GWSR's Cotswold Festival of steam gala at the end of May, and the locomotive is now operational.

35006 has the longest name for a preserved steam locomotive, its full name being Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company.