- Class: NLR Goods Engine
- Wheels: 0-6-0T
- Built: 1880
- Numbers Carried: NLR: 76, 116, LNWR: 2650, LMS: 7505, 27505, BR: 58850
- Last Overhaul Completed: 1984
- Last Operational: 1993
- Current Status: Static display (at Horsted Keynes), awaiting overhaul
- Owned By: Bluebell Railway
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This powerful goods locomotive was built for shunting in the docks served by the North London Railway, and for the goods traffic which emanated from the docks to be carried on the NLR’s 14-mile main line, probably frequently venturing out onto other companies’ lines with exchange traffic. The NLR subsequently became part of the LNWR and, at the grouping in 1923, the LMS. Several locos from this class became celebrities thanks to their use on the LMS’s very steeply graded Cromford and High Peak line in Derbyshire.
When this, the last one of the class, was withdrawn from traffic in 1960 it was kept at Derby until coming to the Bluebell in 1962. Used by contractors for the demolition of the line from East Grinstead to Ardingly, it has since been used in the rebuilding of the same line, on the Bluebell’s northwards extension. Requiring very major boiler work before it can again be steamed, in the interim it was placed on loan to other locations, and so both relieve space at Sheffield Park and act as an ambassador for the Bluebell in foreign part. Returned to the Bluebell some years ago, sadly the hope of a subsequent early overhaul has not materialised. Repainted into LMS livery as 27505 by the ‘Goods Division’ at Horsted Keynes in April 2023 (as seen in the second photo here), following earlier work by our 9F Club, it is planned to go on display in SteamWorks! at Sheffield Park.
