Home

RAILWAY OPERATING DEPARTMENT

CAPITAL WORKS

GUEST MOTIVE POWER

As discussed on other pages on this website, six coupled steam locomotives such as Great Western pannier tanks, LBSCR "Terriers", Austerity saddle tanks and even an ex North British J83 are regularly used although the one example of the Bachmann Class 04 Drewery diesel mechanical shunter I once tested proved too weak even to clear the points! This could have been a one-off sub-standard model and I would be more than willing to repeat the experiment, but while I was displaying Capital Works at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam and Vintage Gala on 11 and 12 October 2008 I was kindly loaned the Dapol model of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's Class B7 0-4-0ST.

This came from my good friend Roger Webb, who was displaying his working model fairground in the model tent at Prestbury and had previously contributed an RE single deck bus to my display of Bristol aircraft and vehicles and had gone to considerable trouble to allow me to photograph his model of D0280 "Falcon". On this occasion however I was able to thank Roger for reuniting me with a model that had always worked well on a layout I had built at home in the 1980s and if anything worked even better now.

Like the example that I now regret selling, Roger's Dapol "Pug" carried BR black livery with the early "lion on a bike" crest and was numbered 51241. Although the markings were too late for the private owner wagons, it provided a perfect substitute for the Brighton A1X in terms of sure-footedly taking stock out of Capital Works and drew much attention from younger visitors - not least because it was barely bigger than the trucks!

In fact it was the Rosebud Kitmaster model ( with moulds later passed to Airfix and then on to Dapol ) that would spread the fame of this tiny 21 ton 5cwt locomotive. Not only was the plastic representation of 51212 small enough to fit the same Series 1 box as the Presflo and Cattle Wagon but - as chassis, boiler/tank and cab were all assembled separately - it was to form the basis of many conversions to other small steam locomotives.

As was the case with Airfix's Schools, Bulleid Pacific and 9F kits, there were also a number of preserved examples of the real "0F" B7. Perhaps the best known of these is 51218 ( LMS number 11218 ), built as Horwich works number 811 in 1901 and first turning its 3' 3/8" disc wheels on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in 1964.

With covered-in slide bars next to their two outside 13" x 18" cylinders fed by steam at 160 psi, the 57 strong B7 class eventually offered 11 335 lb of tractive effort as far afield as Agecroft and Speke Junction while 51218 made it all the way to Swansea!

In 1923 this locomotive became LMS number 11243, but was sold in 1931 to John Mowlem for use on a major contract at Southampton Docks where she was named ‘Bassett’. Four years later she was moved to London, was re-named ‘Prince’ and operated at the Charlton works of United Glass Bottle Manufacturers Ltd, whose site is now occupied by the O2 Arena, formerly the Millennium Dome.

Number 19 came into preservation in the late 1960s, being purchased by the L&YR Society at Haworth. She was loaned as a static exhibit to Southport Steam Centre and is now on the site of its successor, the Ribble Steam Railway Museum at Preston Docks.

My own model was later to appear in a presentation on British Steam on Universal Works 2.0.  A spare engine in later LMS or BR markings would also be a welcome addition to the locomotive stud!

633 was introduced to Paddington depot in November 1871 and withdrawn from there in October 1933. 635 arrived a month later but only lasted at Paddington until August 1928.

Half the class was similarly to spend most of its life in the London area although other examples served as far away as Frome and Swansea. Several engines - including 633, 634, 641, 642 and 643 - had their 980 gallon tanks fitted with condensing apparatus for working over the Metropolitan Line.

It is hoped to feature 635 in future presentations alongside other Great Western tank engines of its era.