THE East Somerset Railway (ESR) has been awarded a second major contract overhaul job following its recent completion of Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-2T No. 41313 for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.
On August 16 the ESR announced agreement had been reached with the Dartmouth Steam Railway for Cranmore to undertake the overhaul of GWR ‘5205’ 2-8-0T No. 5239 Goliath.
The locomotive was withdrawn at the end of 2015 pending overhaul, its place in the working fleet being taken by BR ‘4MT’ No. 75014 Braveheart, which returned to traffic at the end of 2016.
Monthly Subscription: Enjoy more Railway Magazine reading each month with free delivery to you door, and access to over 100 years in the archive, all for just £5.35 per month.
Click here to subscribe & save
The Paignton-based railway currently has three of its own steam locomotive available for traffic, including No. 75014, ‘Manor’ No. 7827 Lydham Manor and ‘42XX’ 2-8-0T No. 4277 Hercules.
However, there is still an operational need for an additional locomotive, which this year is being provided by Tyseley’s ‘57XX’ 0-6-0PT No. L94.
‘Small Prairie’ No. 4555 is currently under overhaul in the railway’s works, which will plug the gap, but with No. 4277’s boiler ticket expiring in 2018, a decision was taken to have Goliath overhauled externally so as to reduce the waiting time, the length of the overhaul queue, and also the reliance on hired-in locomotives.
No. 5239 is expected to transfer to Cranmore in the coming weeks, where a full strip-down and rebuild will get underway.
It will return to Devon upon completion.
Read more News and Features in the September issue of The RM – on sale now!
