THE Thompson B1 Locomotive Trust’s No. 61264 has been confirmed as one of the star attractions at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s curtain-raising steam gala on March 3-5.
The railway is capitalising on the lifting of the year-long bridge weight restriction that prohibited locomotive movements to and from Haworth by bringing the BR black 4-6-0 down from its base at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, together with the East Lancashire Railway’s Hughes ‘Crab’ 2-6-0 No. 13065.
The latter engine will be making a welcome return to the KWVR, having first come to the railway direct from Barry Scrapyard in 1978. It was on the West Yorkshire line that the loco’s restoration first began, before its transfer to the ELR, where it returned to steam in 1993.
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The event will be the Worth Valley’s only steam gala in 2017 and will feature a blend of passenger, goods and vintage trains worked by the visiting engines and a supporting cast assembled from the line’s operating fleet. These will be drawn from newly overhauled ‘Black Five’ No. 45212, Taff Vale 0-6-2T No. 85, ‘WD’ 2-8-0 No. 90733, ‘4MT’ 4-6-0 No. 75078 and ‘S160’ No. 5820.
Appearances by the Bahamas Locomotive Trust’s LNWR 0-6-2 ‘Coal Tank’ No. 1054 and Hudswell, Clarke ‘Cornist’ 0-6-0T Nunlow are also likely, working in tandem with the Vintage Carriages Trust’s wooden-bodied stock.
Read more News in January’s issue of The RM
