Locomotives in operation

D8188 was manufactured by the English Electric Company’s Vulcan Foundry in 1966 as Works No D3669. It commenced service in January 1967 until its withdrawal from BR Service in January 1990. The locomotive underwent a renumbering process, becoming 20188 on 1 January 1973 under the TOPS classification system.

Notably after its BR career, it gained cinematic stardom as D8188 was retrofitted with mock armour for its portrayal as a Russian locomotive in the 1995 James Bond film ‘GoldenEye’ which was shot at the Nene Valley Railway. By August 1995, the locomotive was owned by Waterman Railways until The Somerset & Dorset Locomotive Company, the current owner of the locomotive, was established in 2000 and took ownership of the locomotive.

D8188 was temporarily loaned to the SVR in July 2007 to aid in repair operations after severe storm damage. It saw extensive use in the ensuing months and was later integrated as a permanent member of the SVR fleet in 2008/9. A maintenance period then followed at Washwood Heath in 2015, and the locomotive returned to SVR in February 2016. When it was deemed surplus to requirements at the SVR, D8188 had spells operating on the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway & The Spa Valley Railway. In 2021, alongside sister locomotive D8059, D8188 moved to its current home, The Watercress Line, where the locomotive works along the Hampshire line today.

This specific diesel type, a multi purpose 650hp diesel hydraulic locomotive, was produced at BR’s Swindon Works between the years 1964 and 1965, as part of the modernisation plan of diesel hydraulic motive power that the Western Region were investing in at that time. They also gained the nickname “Teddy Bears”. The comment came from the then Swindon Works foreman George Cole who quoted “We’ve built the Great Bear, now we’re going to build a Teddy Bear!”

The Class 14’s became the last diesel hydraulic to be built by British Railways and the last UK purpose built locomotive at Swindon Works. This particular locomotive, D9551, was one of the last ones made in the Class 14 series and it started its journey in 1965, based at Cardiff and Swansea. However, after serving for slightly less than 3 years, it was retired on 1 April 1968 after being transfered from the Western Region to Hull Dairycoates shed.

In the same year, a company called Stewarts & Lloyds Minerals Ltd, which was part of the British Steel Corporation, bought 23 Class 14s, and D9551 was among them. The locomotive was then sent to Corby and renumbered as BSC no. 50. It served diligently until withdrawal in 1981. Later that same year, D9551 was bought by ‘Railway Power Services’, a group made up of members from West Somerset Railway and Diesel and Electric Preservation Group. Being acquired by the group, D9551 would haul both works and passenger services on the WSR before later moving to the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society in 2003.

By 2013, The Severn Valley Railway had gathered examples of all remaining Western Region diesel hydraulic classes. The SVR Class 14 Company Limited, after searching for another example of the class, bought D9551 in September 2013. After a thorough repair at Bridgnorth, the locomotive re-entered service in 2017. After running in experimental BR ‘Golden Ochre’ colour scheme for many years, D9551 now carries a more authentic BR two tone green livery as we will see when the locomotive visits for our gala.

No doubt a popular choice amongst our Southern Region fans and a fitting addition in keeping with the local area, the Class 33 ‘Cromptons’ have been a mainstay of diesel traction in the South and beyond over the last 60 years. A healthy number have survived and are still active on both preserved lines and the national network. In total, 29 of the class have survived into preservation – 17 of the 33/0 variant, 8 of the 33/1 variant and 4 of the 33/2 variant.

98 of the class were built by the Birmingham Wagon & Carriage Company between 1960 and 1962. Numbered as D6528 and the 28th member of the class to be built in 1960, our visiting Class 33 was the last example of 19 locomotives to be converted into a 33/1 variant of the class (especially modified to be compatible for ‘Push Pull’ operation bought about with the Bournemouth Electrification scheme between 1966-67). Renumbered as 33111 in 1974 under TOPs, the locomotive would remain with BR until its withdrawal from service in 1991.

The Class 33/1 Preservation Company purchased 33111 in 1992 and then followed spells at Eastleigh, St Leonards before transferring to Barrow Hill roundhouse, where in 2004, 33111 moved and operated for the first time in preservation. In 2008, 33111 moved to The Swanage Railway in Dorset, the current home for this Class 33 where it can be seen regularly on passenger services and engineering trains.

The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive, also known as the English Electric Type 3. The Class were brought into service as a part of the 1955 Modernisation plan to replace steam traction . The class were numbered in two series, D6600-D6608 and D6700-D6999. The Class 37 became a familiar sight across the entire BR network and were extremely versatile and very popular machines . They also performed well on secondary and inter-regional services for many years. They gain the nickname of ‘Tractors’, due to their distinctive sound when under load. Class 37’s could be seen as far afield as the Scottish Highlands, North Wales Coast and Cornwall. The class were also a common feature on Southern Region metals, so they are a fitting addition to this year’s Diesel Gala line up for 2024.

D6851 was introduced in 1963 and initially served in South Wales from new. It was renumbered twice in the spell of its BR career, 37151 and 37667. The loco also carried two names prior its current name on the mainline, the first being ‘Wensleydale’ in 1988 (which lasted less than two years) before being renamed as ‘Meldon Quarry Centenary’ in 1997. Having spanned a career up and down the entire BR network, it was withdrawn by EWS in 2006, where afterwards it passed into private ownership with HNRC and then DRS ownership before eventually being bought by its current owners, Locomotive Services Limited, in 2017.

The locomotive was named ‘Flopsie’ at Crewe in 2021 and carries an 1960’s BR Brunswick Green Livery and has reverted back to its pre TOPS number of D6851.

A large group of Class 37’s remain active on the national network in private ownership and preservation. A testament of the design and legacy of this first generation diesel design.

In 2018 ‘Wightwick Hall’ became the 150th steam locomotive to have been restored to operational condition after being rescued from Dai Woodham’s famous Barry Scrap Yard in South Wales. This was the culmination of a 41 year restoration by the 6989 Restoration Group.

Arriving on loan to the Bluebell Railway on 23 June 2022, and initially expected to stay until after Giants of Steam that year, its visit has been extended through to late 2024.

‘Wightwick Hall’ spent its working life around Hereford. and Gloucester. After withdrawal it was one of the locomotives saved by being sold on from Barry scrapyard, moving to Quainton Road in January 1978, and restored to operational condition over the following 41 years.

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This magnificent locomotive is the result of our project to reconstruct a Brighton H2 Atlantic based on SR/BR period “Beachy Head”. It is based around a suitable boiler, and includes various other original H2 components have been given to the project, including the locomotive’s original regulator handle and whistle, and a class identification plate.  The locomotive was launched into service on the Bluebell on 18 August 2024, the culmination of 24 years work by a dedicated team of engineers, fundraisers and supporters.

The decision to recreate this locomotive, enabled by the discovery of an ex-GNR Atlantic boiler (essentially identical to that used on the H2) in superb condition in a factory in Essex in 1986, is due to the significance of this particular locomotive to the Bluebell itself.  It was:
* an iconic Brighton express locomotive;
* the very last Atlantic running in BR service;
* used on many railtours in the 1950s, including several over the Bluebell line;
* this loco’s scrapping in 1958 which led Brighton enthusiasts to realise that action was required to save something of the history of the LB&SCR before it was too late, and led to the first meeting of what became the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society in 1959.

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The identical “West Country” and “Battle of Britain” pacifics were built to provide increased power for use on the Southern’s secondary main lines, especially those in the West country with weight restrictions. However, some of Bulleid’s novel ideas, designed to reduce maintenance costs, proved troublesome. Therefore in 1957 a programme of rebuilding the locomotives along conventional lines was started. The rebuilding of the Bulleid light pacifics added several tons to their weight, but produced, to all intents, brand-new locomotives, whilst retaining the distinctive light-weight Bulleid-Firth-Brown wheels and his superb free-steaming boiler, along with many other of the successful innovative design features.

Rescued from Barry scrapyard in 1979 without a tender, this locomotive has since then been the subject of ongoing restoration work and fundraising. A tender underframe was salvaged from a steel-works, the original intention being to use this in conjunction with a new body. However this underframe was in poor condition, and in the end only some fittings from it were used, with the tender frames being constructed at Sheffield Park from new material. A new 5250-gallon tender body has been made, and placed on it.

The formal launch into Bluebell service, as the first rebuilt Battle of Britain to steam in preservation, performed by Viscount Thurso (grandson of Sir Archibald Sinclair, who was the wartime Secretary of State for Air from 1940) on 24th April 2009. Regrettably, the loco was withdrawn during October 2011, in need of further major firebox repairs; the construction of a new firebox has been contracted out, and with the boiler work completed in house, and the frames and tender overhauled, it returned to service in November 2023.

Although the locomotive is owned by the Bluebell Railway, the Battle of Britain Locomotive Group who brought it to the Bluebell from Barry, along with The Bulleid Society, are heavily involved in fundraising and assisting in the overhauls of this locomotive.

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Stroudley’s famous Terriers survived for decades after more modern designs had been scrapped, working on lightly laid Branch lines. ‘Fenchurch’ was sold to the Newhaven Harbour Company, being light enough to cross a bridge within the docks. It came back into Southern Railway ownership, and continued to work at Newhaven for many years. It came to the Bluebell in 1964, having been for a number of years a celebrity as the oldest locomotive working on British Railways.

In early December 2019 ‘Fenchurch’ entered the Locomotive works, was dismantled to remove the boiler for assessment, and the remainder of the locomotive reassembled for a return to public display in the locomotive shed. Completed in November 2022, an intensive period of running in and testing followed. It is now painted in its original Stroudley Golden Ochre livery. You can see details of this recent overhaul here.

During its 2001 overhaul ‘Fenchurch’ had been converted back to represent its original A1 rather than A1X form and painted as 672 in Marsh Umber, after which it gave ten years of pretty reliable service.

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One of the range of “Standard” locomotives designed for British Railways, the basic design took as its starting point William Stanier’s LMS Black Fives, but with larger wheels and cylinders, and a higher running plate. The first 30 were built between April 1951 and January 1952. No. 73082 was part of a second batch, of 100 locomotives, built 1953-57.

Modern engines with roller bearings, highly capable and easy to maintain, they were withdrawn long before they were worn out thanks to BR’s rush to get rid of steam in the 1960s. ‘Camelot’ was one of the Southern Region’s allocation of Standard 5s, and when the King Arthur class, which they replaced, were being withdrawn, a staff suggestion led to the names being transferred to the new engines.

This locomotive is believed to hold the record for the highest speed for the class, at 107 mph (on Christmas Eve 1964, near Andover). With a late-night parcels train and a driver keen to get home in time for a party, the 36 miles from Salisbury to Basingstoke was completed in 28 minutes start to stop, an average speed of 77.1 mph!

A survivor of Barry Scrapyard, ‘Camelot’ is the only remaining one of the named Standard 5s. It was returned to working order thanks to the dedication of the Camelot Society, which carried out fund-raising and engineering work. The latter included the construction of a brand-new tender body, fitted to frames recovered from a South Wales Ironworks, since, like so many Barry locos, it had lost its tender. It was a core member of the Bluebell’s loco fleet for the decade after it returned to traffic in 1995.

In preparation for its next overhaul, the Camelot Locomotive Society prepared the loco for the boiler lift, major work was undertaken on the wheelsets and the roller-bearings, the boiler received heavy repairs off-site, and the overhaul and painting was completed in October 2015.

To mark 60 years since 73082 was constructed at Derby in 1955 (although relaunched complete with its nameplates at the Giants of Steam weekend in 2015) it ran for the following year without nameplates, to mark this anniversary. ‘Camelot’ received its nameplates at Eastleigh works in August 1959, whilst still carrying the early BR tender emblem, and now carries them again.

At the end of 2020, with the country entering a third Coronavirus lockdown, the opportunity was taken to carry out some remedial work on ‘Camelot’ in the Bluebell’s workshop. A problem had arisen with leaks at the foundation ring rivets, and to allow these to be replaced, the boiler was lifted. Although there were still 4 years remaining on the boiler ticket, while it was out of the frames other work was carried out as necessary, including partial retubing, gaining a new 10 year boiler ticket.

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The 4MT tank locomotives were closely linked to the last years of the Bluebell line, and although the last Brighton-built locomotive, 80154, escaped preservation, the Bluebell now plays host to three other members of the class, all one-time residents of Barry scrapyard. 80151 arrived from another preservation site in 1998 and returned to steam after the completion of its overhaul in the Bluebell’s workshops in October 2001. Additional boiler work during early 2011 saw its operational period extended to May 2012.

Its latest overhaul, which cost over half a million pounds saw, along with routine heavy maintenance and boilerwork undertaken in-house, new tyres fitted to the driving wheels.

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Built at Ashford as an ‘O’ class locomotive to a design already 18 years old, it received a rebuild to class ‘O1’ in 1908, and ran on until finally withdrawn in 1961. In 1963 it was obtained by the late Mr Lewis-Evans and kept at Ashford Steam Centre until its closure. for the following 20 years its whereabouts became something of a mystery (with boiler, frames and tender separated) until it was brought back together at the Bluebell Railway for overhaul, and was returned to steam for the centenary of the amalgamation of the SER and the LCDR in August 1999.

0-6-0s were the commonest locomotives in this country, and the Bluebell now hosts a sequence of three unique survivors of this type, demonstrating their development through the first half of the 20th century, from the O1 through the SECR C-class to Maunsell’s Q-class built by the Southern Railway.

The Bluebell’s spare O1/H boiler was overhauled at The Flour Mill workshop, and has now been fitted in place of its previous boiler during the recent overhaul, which took place at Sheffield Park. The locomotive was purchased from the family of the late owner by the Bluebell Railway Trust in December 2021.

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Known latterly as Class 73s, these were electric locomotives for the Southern Region’s third-rail system, but incorporating a 600 hp diesel engine, similar to those used in the Southern Region’s DEMUs, intended for use in sidings and other non-electrified areas. Six prototypes, the ‘JA’s, were designed and built at Eastleigh in 1962 using English Electric equipment. They were built to the narrow ‘Hastings Gauge’, giving universal track access across the region.

43 more Electro-diesel Locomotives, ‘JB’s in Southern Region classification, were ordered from English Electric, built between 1965 and 1967, as part of the fleet to operate the newly electrified Waterloo-Southampton/Bournemouth line. Initially numbered E6007-E6049, they differed slightly from the ‘JA’s, most notably having higher tractive effort and a 90mph maximum speed.

73133 (as E6040 had become in 1973) was named ‘The Bluebell Railway’ in September 1990, and ran onto what is now Bluebell property two years later at the ceremony passing ownership of the viaduct at East Grinstead to us.

The locomotive just escaped being scrapped in 2004, entered preservation, but returned to main-line use in 2013 and having been used as a shunter at Bournemouth Depot and more recently at Eastleigh Works, was privately purchased from there in December 2022 by a member of the Bluebell Railway’s locomotive department. It was refurbished at his expense at Eastleigh Works in early 2023, prior to moving to the Bluebell Railway.

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Built by Howards in 1926, No 957 was used to shunt their agricultural implement and railway wagon factory sidings in Bedford. The Britannia Iron & Steel Works Ltd took over the site in 1932 to make pipe fittings and continued using it until a larger shunting loco was obtained in 1965. Through the intervention of a local enthusiast the company presented 957 to the Bluebell Railway where it was used for light shunting until about 1969. Under the auspices of the Alf Brown Group an overhaul (details of which are here) was begun in the 1970s at Horsted Keynes which had to include new wheelsets, and it made its debut at the 50th Anniversary Gala in August 2010.

Although nominally operational, at the present time more work is required to complete the restoration of the locomotive.

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350HP Diesel shunting locomotive No. 09018 was purchased by a consortium of members who have set up a company to manage the loco, which is hired by the Railway as and when it is needed.

The 09 class of diesel-electric shunters were a Southern Region version of the ubiquitous 08 class, geared for slightly higher speeds. D4106 was built at British Railways’ Horwich Works on 13 November 1961. It was renumbered as 09018 on 31 December 1973. On the Bluebell it initially retained HNRC orange and grey livery, with the lettering removed, since the priority was the acquisition of a pool of spare parts.

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Acquired by the Bluebell Railway’s C&W department mainly for shunting work around the carriage yard, this loco arrived on 7th May 2010, in working order.

A Sentinel designed loco, this one was built after the company became known as Rolls-Royce and is their No. 10241 of 1966. However, the loco was rebuilt by Thomas Hill (Rotherham) in 1973 (who had by then acquired the Sentinel/Rolls-Royce locomotive business), becoming their No. 247V.

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