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LNER Route: Leicester to Marylebone
Rugby Central Station: gcrcs282
British Railways Standard Class 5 4-6-0 No 73156 with the
6:00pm Leicester to Woodford Halse local service on Saturday 8th September
1962. Built by Doncaster Plant in December 1956, No 73156 was to remain in
service until October 1967 when it was withdrawn from 9K Bolton shed from where
it was sold to Woodham Brothers at Barry, ultimately to be preserved.
History of No 73156's Shed Allocations
Motive Power Depot |
Allocation Date |
Neasden [34E] |
December 1956 |
Sheffield (Millhouses) [41C] |
Apr 1958 |
Sheffield (Grimesthorpe) [41B] |
Jan 1959 |
Derby [17A] (a fleeting allocation) |
Sep 1960 |
Neasden [14D] |
Sep 1960 |
Leicester Central [15E] |
Jun 1962 |
Woodford Halse [2F] |
Mar 1963 |
Cricklewood [14A] |
May 1963 |
Leamington Spa [2L] |
Oct 1964 |
Tyseley [2A] |
Jun 1965 |
Bolton [9K] |
Apr 1966 |
Barry and beyond
On withdrawal from service in October 1967 the locomotive
was sold for scrap and sent to Woodham Brothers yard, Barry, arriving
there in January 1968. Purchased by the Bolton Steam Locomotive Co Ltd on
November 9th 1985 No 73156 was transported to the workshops of the East
Lancashire Railway at Bury the following year. Regular visits to Barry were
made in order to prepare her for this event and upon arrival at Bury, work
started immediately on stripping the loco. Much of the work comprised
de-rusting, dismantling, cleaning and assessing the removed components for
re-use or as patterns for new components not covered by available drawings. It
is impossible to itemise every job done during the Bury years, especially the
trials and tribulations along the way, but significant progress was made.
The locomotive was transferred from the ELR at Bury to the
GCR at Loughborough in 2002 for the remainder of the restoration. The BR1B
tender from 73156 was sold off during the engines time at Barry, so a new
tender is being constructed from scratch. A new tender chassis has been
completed and is now at Loughborough awaiting delivery of the new tender tank,
which is currently at Bury and is almost complete. All outstanding motion parts
have been manufactured and fitted to the loco. Work on the cab sheeting,
frames, wheel cleaning and painting, piping up and brake gear, as well as the
machining of many components and boiler/firebox inspections summarises work
carried out at Loughborough. The boiler and firebox overhaul, the last major
task, is now being undertaken.
The full restoration of No 73156 to working order is (in
July 2017) now at a very advanced stage. For more information see
http://73156standard5group.co.uk/
Tony Newman
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