- Class: A1
- Designer: William Stroudley
- Wheels: 0-6-0T
- Built: 1872, Brighton Works
- Numbers Carried: 72, B636, 2636, 32636
- Last Overhaul Completed: 10 January 2023
- Previously Operational: February 2001 to 23 January 2011, as No. 672
- Owned By: Bluebell Railway
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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.
