- Class: C
- Wheels: 0-6-0
- Built: 1902
- Numbers Carried: 592, A592, 1592, 31592
- Last Overhaul Completed: 7 October 2007
- Last Operational: 13 May 2017
- Current Status: Static display, awaiting overhaul
- Owned By: The Bluebell Railway Trust
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After the amalgamation of the SER and the LCDR in 1899 it fell to Harry Wainwright to put some order into the locomotive designs the new company inherited. The C-class was his standard goods design, and served the SECR, and in turn the SR and BR, well. The steam powered reverser on this locomotive was most successful, and this design was to be found on goods and shunting engines built by the SECR and the SR for more than 40 years afterwards.
Preserved initially at Ashford Works by the Wainwright ‘C’ Preservation Society, it moved to the Bluebell in 1970, and finally entered service in 1975 after work on its boiler and a badly damaged axle journal. Its 1994 overhaul at the hands of volunteers saw it returned to service with a spare overhauled tender which we had been fortunate enough to obtain. In 2006-7 we overhauled the spare boiler which we have for this locomotive, since the firebox of the existing boiler was deemed beyond repair. Mechanically the locomotive was in reasonable order, although the condition of the cylinders was expected to determine how long it ran before its next overhaul. It returned to service on 8th October 2007, and it was known to require a new cylinder block at a subsequent overhaul, but advances in cylinder lining techniques led to the cylinder block being removed for a repair in late 2012, which, with further work on the valves, enabled a much stronger locomotive to re-enter service.
Now withdrawn from service pending its next overhaul, a replacement cylinder block has been cast, and will be fitted as part of that overhaul. In the interim, it is currently on display, with full footplate access, as part of our SteamWorks! interactive exhibition at Sheffield Park.
The locomotive was generously gifted to The Bluebell Railway Trust by the Wainwright ‘C’ Preservation Society on 20 September 2014.
