As mentioned in the last edition, the department received a new addition to the fleet on Friday 18th December. Class 20, 20228, safely arrived from the Barry Tourist Railway courtesy of SA Smith heavy haulage.
Below is a number of photos taken by HoD, Andy Durham, of its arrival at Toddington....
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| A very happy owner, Steve Madge, oversees the safe arrival of the pristine looking 20228. |
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| Touchdown! Safely on the unloading road ready for shunting into the shed. |
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The nose end showing the new marker lights.
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| Safely on shed alongside the ED, another of Steve's machines. Sadly, E6036 is the one making room for 20228 and will be leaving for pastures new when the formalities are concluded. |
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| Man and one of his machines! |
For the record, the restoration of
20228 to this condition has been quite a journey. Whereas sister loco (also owned by Steve),
D8137, was complete and a runner on arrival at the GWsR in the 1990s,
20228 was one of the Class exported for use with CFD in France. It was adapted and altered to meet French railway safety requirements, including having large headlight clusters sited on the solebar, as can be seen from one of my blog pictures of
20035, that was broken for spares, from a couple of years ago...
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| 20035, another of the Class that was exported to France along with 20228. Luckily, 20228 wasn't in such a bad condition but it gives you an idea of the job that Steve and his team at Barry faced to get the loco looking line it had just rolled out of Doncaster Works! |
It is hoped that the finished touches to outside of the loco will be done whilst the exhauster is away being overhauled, and that this will allow the loco to be fit to run for the beginning of the 2021 season. Sadly, D8137, is still undergoing its Traction Motor replacement, but it is hoped that at some time during 2021 both Class 20s will work together - as they would have done many times over the Honeyborne line under BR.
If you have a Facebook account, you can sign in to watch a fantastic video by Road Pilots Abnormal Load Escort of the journey of the loco heading out of Barry on its low loader. The link is
HERE.
