Duke of Gloucester returns to steam

NEWS

UNIQUE BR Class 8 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester moved under its own power for the first time in nearly 13 years at Tyseley Locomotive Works on April 28.

Withdrawn in August 2012, the first steaming of the 1954-built one-off Riddles ‘8P’ 462 marks the culmination of its £1.3 million overhaul, which has been ongoing at Tyseley since 2014. BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust chairman Trevor Tuckley described No. 71000 as having been “rebuilt from the ground-up again”, incorporating the modifications Riddles had intended to make to the ‘Duke’ before its BR career was curtailed. Tuckley estimated that the ‘8P’ was 99% complete at the time of its first steaming, with the remaining work to be undertaken during its final shake-down and running-in trials at the Severn Valley Railway, with Duke of Gloucester – minus its smoke deflectors and painted in undercoat – arriving there on May 1.

The final completion work will be done by representatives from both Tyseley Locomotive Works and Locomotive Services Group; Duke of Gloucester will form part of the LSG main line stable after the BR Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust and the Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust signed an agreement in February 2024 for No. 71000 to be used on LSG’s Saphos Trains railtours.

Tuckley told Steam Railway that the ‘Duke’ would remain on the SVR for around a month before moving to its new operating base at Crewe, from where it would undertake three loaded test runs, including a members-only train as a thank-you to everyone involved with No. 71000’s return to steam. This will run on June 4, taking a circular route from Crewe via Chester, Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, and Stafford, and any new members who join the trust before June 1 will be eligible to travel. To join, visit www.theduke.uk.com

The ‘8P’ will then enter the paint shop at Crewe for final painting and lining out, before hauling its first public, revenue-earning trip from Carlisle to Edinburgh in “at the end of July/early August”. Tuckley also confirmed that No. 71000 would enter service with revised BR ‘cycling lion’ tender crests, with ‘The Duke’ in place of ‘British Railways’; “After all, we’ve owned it far longer than British Railways did!” he said.

The ‘Duke’ isn’t the only locomotive to have re-joined LSG’s main line stable in recent weeks, with ‘Castle’ No. 5029 Nunney Castle returning to steam for the first time in a decade in early April.

Last steamed in May 2015 when it officially opened the refurbished Crewe Diesel Depot that now forms Locomotive Services Group’s headquarters, Steam Railway understands the 1934-built Collett 460 has undergone a comprehensive overhaul, including a new copper firebox and tubeplate, as well as the fitting of a new three-row superheater.

Its first main line outing was hauling the Bristol Temple Meads-Kingswear and Kingswear-Taunton legs of the private ‘Chairman’s Train’ on April 17 and 18, in partnership with LSG’s Class 57 No. 57311 The Institute of Mechanical Engineers. It will be returning to the Taunton-Kingswear route with what is booked to be its first public railtour on June 21, under LSG’s Steam Dreams banner.