After a two year long overhaul, which suffered many setbacks and delays, the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s 60163 Tornado finally made a return to service, making her much rescheduled visit to the Nene Valley Railway. The engine bowed out of service in January of 2022, with intention of a full overhaul aiming to be complete by the end of that year. This would not only see an overhaul of the locomotive, but also the fitment of the new ETCS signalling system, with Tornado becoming the first steam locomotive to see this addition. However, the fitment of ETCS, alongside other issues including repairs to the boiler, would not see the engine return until August 2024, running in at the Great Central Railway, before then moving to the Nene Valley Railway during October to meet the prior commitments to the NVR.

So, finally on the weekend of 26 /27 October, the B17 SLT was able to set up our stand at Wansford station to support Tornado’s return. Attendance on both days was good; whilst Saturday was fairly quiet on the sales front, this was, however, more than made up for the Sunday when a steady stream of visitors made their way into the marquee to chat with us and also to buy a good selection of our branded merchandise and second hand models. On display were the full set of 25 replica cast resin ‘footballer’ nameplates that we now supply. A stunning sight! see photo below and which attracted a good deal of interest.

Thanks go to the NVR for their support. Richard Taylor manned the stand on both days with Brian Hall on the Saturday and John Pearson on the Sunday. We now look forward to seeing Tornado back on the mainline!

A small selection of the 25 Footballer nameplates now available, plus one that a B17 wasn't named after - but at the request of many people - Ipswich Town.

As our party gathered, a display stall of B17 goods was set up on Wansford platform. New items on display were 1 pint etched B17 beer glasses and whisky tumblers. These new lines and the 2025 calendars, along with other items sold well. While many of the party set off on a locomotive shed tour, whilst others in the party began to enjoy their first trips along the line. 

The Nene Valley had generously offered a free footplate ride as a raffle prize on the day. Tickets were sold on the train ready to be drawn in readiness for a footplate ride later in the day. These tickets sold well and a useful contribution was made towards the B17 Locomotive Cab Fund. The winning ticket, drawn by our youngest guest on the train, Jacob Oughton, had been issued to Nicholas Wheatley who had travelled from Cheltenham to join the gathering. Despite the substitution of the anticipated steam locomotive by a Peak clas diesel 45 041 'Royal Tank Regiment' due to the threat of line side fires, Nicholas was pleased to enjoy his cab journey on the third round trip of the day. Our meal was served during the second round trip of the day and was much appreciated. Afterwards, a helping of cake was provided by one of the members wives, for which we were grateful. 

The Trust's photographer was present through out the day and several images are distributed with this summary.

Finally before we began to disperse, several generous contributions were made to the Trust for both the cab fund and the chimney pattern fund. We are most grateful to our members and friends for continued support that they make.

Many thanks to Paul Roe and the NVR for hosting the event.

Set in the idyllic setting of the Cotswolds scenery operating over an 11 mile stretch of restored railway between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway. Providing access to the former British Railways network from the Midlands, this route was part of a second mainline to South Wales and beyond Bristol to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.

 

GWR steam locomotives headlined the event with a very first public outing by new build Grange 4-6-0 No. 6880 Betton Grange, immaculately turned out in GWR green which commanded a full compliment of passengers each day. This loco was completed at Tyseley and arrived on the railway a week earlier to commence "running in". Other visiting GWR locos were Mogul No. 9351 and No. 2999 Lady of Legend which also attracted much support from the visiting public. The home fleet of GWR locos also played their part with freight and passenger turns each day with Merchant Navy class No. 35006 Peninsular and Oriental Line representing the Southern Region. Full size traction engines and miniature versions were also operating on the site providing rides for families around the large demonstration/car park area.

 

Thanks to B17 Members Carol and David Hancox who supported the B17 stand during the weekend period and also to those of our B17 Members who visited and called by for a chat.

Stamford Model Railway Show - 11^th/12^th May 2024

This was our first time attending this show which is organised by the Market Deeping Model Railway Club. It was held at the Stamford Welland Academy in Stamford and featured 28 top quality layouts spread over five halls as well as many traders and societies. It was a spectacular exhibition, although the attendance was affected because of the very fine weather and a clash with a number of outdoor events that were scheduled after the dates for the show had been agreed. Whilst this did mean that our sales receipts were not as high as they may have been, we still welcomed a good number of visitors to our stand who showed great interest in our project. Again, our replica miniature footballer nameplates and footballer fridge magnets were the subject of a lot of interest and sparked a lot of debate on club allegiances, league positions etc. Brian Hall and Richard Taylor, who manned the stand both days, also had time to take a break to enjoy the show and marvel at the layouts. All in all, a very enjoyable weekend!

 

The main hall at Stamford with chairman Brian Hall in deep conversation

 

Ongar Railway Spring Steam Gala -  27/28th April 2024

Saint 2999 'Lady of Legend' double heading with Hall 4953 'Pitchford Hall'. Photo by John Pearson

Severn Valley Railway Spring Steam Gala - 19th - 21st April 2024

This year's event was well supported by a mixed fleet of working steam locomotives combining visiting engines and those belonging to the railway. 

Unusual locos amongst the visitors were Class A1X No. 72 Fenchurch visiting from the Bluebell Railway and Pannier Tank No 1369 from the South Devon Railway. A third visitor was Lambton Tank No. 29 from the NYMR. This latter loco alternated between goods trains and passenger train workings throughout the steam gala weekend.

Amongst the home fleet and looking very new, following a lengthy overhaul was LMS Class 4MT No.13268. This worked passenger turns coupled to LMS stock for one day only as part of "running in" and a progressive return to normal operational service on the railway.

Overall visitor numbers were variable during each day, although people of all ages with whom we spoke were keen to learn about the Spirit of Sandringham project and numerous B17 Booklets and Trifold Leaflets were distributed to them. Some visitors were aware of the B17 presence in Sheffield but to the majority it was a real surprise and some made a note of attending a future Open Day (i.e. next year via Railway Mag, adverts etc.

Unusually Friday was very busy, whereas visitor numbers on Saturday were generally quite the opposite except for a busy afternoon period and the Sunday followed a similar pattern. It was noticeable that passenger trains on each day were certainly well supported and generally full. The weather was remarkably good, particularly on the Saturday and Sunday. Overall sales were lower than the norm for this location, comparing the previous two years since Covid etc.

Thanks are due to members David Hancox and Nicolas Wheatley. The cooperative help by the Stationmaster and his staff each day when setting up, clearing away with overnight secure storage for all of the kit and reserved (free) carparking for 2 spaces was also a real positive during the whole event and has been a consistent benefit from the beginning of our Bewdley visits.

Open Day 13th April 2024 at CTL Seal Ltd.

On Saturday, April 13^th our third Open Day was held at the premises of CTL Seal Ltd. in Sheffield, to showcase the ongoing work to construct two new build steam locomotives. The event was jointly organised by The B17 Steam Locomotive Trust (B17 SLT) building 61673 ‘Spirit of Sandringham’ and The Standard Steam Locomotive Company who are building 72010 ‘Hengist’. Both teams were involved in the detailed planning and the marketing of the event, both locally in Sheffield and several National Heritage Railway publications, plus of course Facebook and the two websites. All these activities were conducted with the support of CTL Seal M.D. Andy England and his staff. 

For the B17 project, this involved the production of improved and additional A1 sized display posters to ensure every visitor had a good understanding of the process we were using and of B17 history. On the hardware front, two major changes were visible this year. First, we had the first of several components of the Smokebox, a part of the project that only started with the production of CAD drawings after the last Open Day. The Smokebox Wrapper, on a temporary wooden saddle, started the move to turn ‘Spirit of Sandringham’ look like a real locomotive. Then, an eye-catching transformation was made at the front, by mounting two buffers and painting them and the bufferbeam in a bright red gloss, with the typical late LNER habit of painting the loco number on the buffer beam - a habit that was carried over in the BR era.

The view visitors to the 'B17 Zone' at the Open Day saw as they approached the chassis.

Displayed with the frames was a recently completed Cannonbox for one of the two rear coupled wheels and one of two Coupled axlebox castings part machined – both will be returned to Shildon for completion with the other pairs already at Shildon. Two of the six Hornblock’s, items that were on display last year, could be seen actually bolted in position on the chassis. In front of the chassis display was a stack of 5 coupled wheels – the 6th was on the milling machine elsewhere in the factory where the final machining has started, a process to be done of each wheel. Once the hub of each wheel has been machined, we will be able to supply the final dimension needed for our plain axles to be finished in South Africa and shipped back to the UK. When we have these, we have all the components for the completion of two Coupled Wheelsets.

	A view from the dragbox looking to the front and showing two Hornblocks now mounted in the Intermediate Coupled Wheel position.
A close view of the same two Hornblocks - the other four are stored elsewhere in the factory at present.
	A completed Cannonbox was positioned on display on the outside of the frames just by the Intermediate Coupled wheel position. The Cannonbox holds the Timkin tapered roller bearings in place on the Plain Axle and will be located within the two Hornblocks shown above.
Shown here is a part machined Coupled Axlebox - this is for the Front Coupled wheels, the ones driven by the middle cylinder.
	A stack of five Coupled (Driving) wheels on display. Mounted on top is one of two 'Spirit of Sandringham' nameplates.
The missing Coupled wheel was on the milling machine and not accessible by the public on the Open Day.     All photos by J. Pearson

As well as the major displays from the two locomotive groups based at CTL Seal, there were displays including the Great Central Railway with their ‘Bridging the Gap’ project, Trackside Magazine, and others.

The Trust was proud to host The University of Sheffield’s RCAS team, an extracurricular activity open to all students in the University to take part in an annual IMechE Railway challenge – the loco is also called ‘Spirit of Sandringham’ and the Trust has supplied two of our miniature replica nameplates for use on their locomotive. 

	The University of Sheffield's 'Spirit of Sandringham'. The RCAS team who accompanied the loco on the Open Day. Trust member Roy Horrocks is with them - Roy, as a Chartered Engineer, has supported them this year at several Zoom meetings.
The RCAS team in front of our 'Spirit of Sandringham'.

The official viewing time was from 10am to 4pm, although the public started to come in earlier to ease the overcrowding at the main door. Those visiting included a good number of members of the two hosting organisations, railway enthusiasts and locals interested in what was happening at CTL Seal.

During the morning, Andy England (MD CTL Seal) formally opened the event, with welcomes from the Clan Project’s president and Nick Illingworth, Vice-Chairman of B17SLT.

Interest in the B17 project was intense and the B17 team were kept busy right from start to finish. Many interesting conversations were had during the day with the stack of driving wheels and the ‘huge’ completed Cannonbox being key talking points. 

An excellent event for all concerned. My thanks to John Barnes, Jenny Pearson, Nick Illingworth, Richard Taylor, Alan Warren and Brian Hall for help setting up and manning the stand and talking to the public about the project. Also, to Lionel Lusby who brought along and talked about the 'Footballer' nameplates.

John Pearson

Festival of Railway Modelling - 16th / 17h March 2024

Our third year attending this major modelling event at Alexandra Palace resulted in the highest receipts so far with over £1,600 taken. The receipts this year were boosted by the popularity of our replica cast resin footballer nameplates which we sell for £50 each and are availabe through the online shop. Nine of these high quality finished plates were sold over the weekend with West Ham United being the most popular followed by Arsenal in second place! Also helping to supplement our income was the sale of two ‘Sandringham at Home’ prints signed by the artist, Malcolm Root. These sell for £75 each.

Our general range of merchandise eg clothing, B17 books, footballer fridge magnets, pens, tea towels etc plus second hand models also attracted considerable interest. As our stock of models is now low, then, should any members reading this have any models they may wish to donate to us, they will be very gratefully received! We also had good sales of tickets for our 2024 Grand Prize Draw.

On the Sunday, we were loaned, by the guys running the Lego layout, elsewhere in the hall, a working Lego model of a B17 - this provided quite a lot of interest.

As in previous years, the Sunday attendance was lower than on the very well attended Saturday, but on both days we were kept busy and were also pleased to meet a number of members who were visiting the Festival who stopped by to catch up with us. 

All in all, a very successful two days with a lot of discussions held with visitors keen to know more about the project and perhaps join us as members to keep the team of Richard Taylor, John and Jenny Pearson, and John Barnes occupied, wuth enough of us providing cover to allow us time off to enjoy the layouts and trade stands at the Festival. 

Services each day were handled by eight steam locomotives, two of which were guest GWR engines supported by six from the home fleet. The visitors were 4-6-0 Express Passenger engine No. 2999 Lady of Legend representing the ‘Saint’ class built at Swindon Works during the early part of the twentieth century. In common with LNER class B17s, none of the ‘Saint’ class survived into preservation. No.2999 was rebuilt from No. 4942 Maindy Hall after its recovery in 1974 from Barry scrapyard to Didcot, including parts from other GWR locomotives at that time. Lady of Legend was steamed for the first time in public in 2019. GWR ‘Pannier’ No. 7714 from the Severn Valley Railway was in support to work both passenger and freight services each day.

Home locomotives were represented by a mix of LMS and BR Standards all turned out to the usual GCR high standard, consisting of Nos. 48305, 73156, 78018 + 78019 double heading and 92214. GWR No. 6988 Swithland Hall joined the guests, being especially renumbered and renamed from its original identity of 6990 Witherslack Hall, having returned to service after a lengthy overhaul.  In support of the steam era, EE Type 3 diesel D6700 and the ubiquitous class 101 diesel railcar were also present on each day.

Thanks to Richard Allsopp for his valuable help during the three days to make this initial visit to Quorn certainly worthwhile at this different venue and meeting point with both new and well known friends visiting.

Member's Day Out - 13th September 2023

A welcome return to the North Norfolk Railway after a gap of 4 years. Good dry weather greeted us at Sheringham, which made a pleasant change from the heavy rain the day before and the sweltering heat of the previous week. A group of members and their friends were booked on the railway's lunch train, welcomed on board with a drink on the platform. Once seated in the carriage next to the engine, we  journeyed back and forth from Sheringham to Holt twice over a 2 hour period, while we enjoyed a three course meal with drinks, finishing with tea or coffee and chocolate. The meal on the dining train was excellent, with the service by the catering staff of a very high order. Also, we had great cooperation from the engine crews, guards and platform staff, allowing us both to set up a small sales table on the platform and also to placing our headboard on the loco hauling us.

This Festival was a first time event for us and is held over three locations in Ipswich, being at the Ipswich Transport
Museum, the Ipswich Railway Modellers HQ and the Ipswich Model Engineering Society. Admission covered entrance 
to all locations which were connected via a free bus service. The B17 SLT stand was located in the Transport Museum 
itself, which is certainly worth a visit with exhibits on show including buses, trams and trolleybuses plus commercial
vehicles, motorbikes etc.

It was a very pleasant and well organised event  and whilst we had a plenty of visitors to the stand in the morning, 
although it was much quieter in the afternoon. Consequently merchandise sales were on the low side although our tea
towel did prove to be popular. We also had a number of useful discussions with interested visitors to the stand and 
handed out a number of membership leaflets. B17 SLT was represented at this event by Richard Taylor, John and Jenny
Pearson.

Cotswold Festival of Steam celebrates “Cheltenham and Gloucester Steam Days -  12th to 14th May 2023

The B17 promotional stand visited the 14 mile long Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) in the Cotswolds for their three day celebration during 12^th – 14^th May. Our stand was based at Toddington, the operational hub and focal point for visitors to the railway. Eight steam locos were rostered to operate a mix of passenger and goods trains each day representing the GWR, Southern, LMS and BR Standard era.

Passenger trains were well patronised by visitors throughout each day with additional capacity (standing only) available in each of the two Guard’s Brake Vans coupled into both goods trains. Operational locos were 4079 Pendennis Castle, 7903 Foremarke Hall but with changed number and name to 6999 Capel Dewi Hall especially for this event to double head with 4079 Pendennis Castle, and lastly, 7820 Dinmore Manor representing the GWR presence. Next, 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S.N.Co. and 31806 (from the Southern). Ex L&Y Pug 0-4-0 11243, a product of Horwich Works and now 113 years old was the star performer on alternate three coach passeng
er and goods trains, representing the LMS. BR Standards were 75014 named Braveheart and 78019.

On the Saturday and Sunday, working Traction Engines combined with Vintage Cars and Commercial Vehicles to add their own sights and sounds from a  era. The B17 stand joined with other like organisations in the marquee provided by the GWSR where the flow of visitors varied throughout each day. Thanks go to members Nicolas Wheatley, and Carol and David Hancox, who gave of their time to support the B17 stand with Brian Hall during the three day period. Conversations and greetings with visiting members and supporters to the stand also presented the opportunity to provide an update of our project status whilst also renewing relationships, to eventually conclude our attendance at this worthwhile event. 

On Saturday, April 15^th an Open Day was held at the premises of CTL Seal Ltd. in Sheffield to showcase the ongoing work to construct two new build steam locomotives. The event was jointly organised by The B17 Steam Locomotive Trust (B17 SLT), building 61673 ‘Spirit of Sandringham’ and The Standard Steam locomotive Company who are building 72010 ‘Hengist’. Both teams were involved in the detail planning and the marketing of the event both in the local Sheffield media and national railway publications, All these activities were conducted with the support of CTL Seal M.D. Andy England and his staff. 

For the B17 project this involved advanced preparation of hardware and notice boards to ensure everything was right on the day. One of the wheel castings that was on show last year, was back from William Cook’s having now been machined and fully tested, with the other five due to be delivered to CTL Seal after the event. There were also the newly made patterns for the four off 12 spoke bogie wheels that will shortly be cast. 

The two 12 spoke bogie wheel patterns on display at CTL Seal. This was the source of many conversations, as few visitors had not seen a wooden pattern before for casting steel and were fascinated by the process - on display were photos of one of our driving wheels being cast. Photo by John Barnes.

Displayed with the frames were two of the recently machined six Hornblocks, two buffers requiring refurbishment and other miscellaneous items. 

Around the frames were display boards showing the history of B17s as well as the significant progress made in the last year building ‘Spirit of Sandringham’. This includes the machining of the Cannon Axleboxes, that will be returned from Daniella Works Ltd at Shildon to Sheffield for trial fitting, and for the first time, the CAD designs for the bogie chassis.

On arrival on the Friday, it was straight into an interview with Tom Ingall, for the evening’s BBC Look North program. Both new build projects (‘Spirit of Sandringham’ and ‘Hengist’) featured strongly, and the publicity certainly helped, as the next day found hundreds waiting for the doors to open. As well as the major displays from the two locomotive groups based at CTL Seal, there were displays including the Great Central Railway with their ‘Bridging the Gap’ project, Trackside Magazine, and others.

Tom also put up a longer video on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGe9B00mqWE

The official viewing time was from 10am to 4pm, although the public started to come in earlier to ease the overcrowding at the main door. Those visiting included both railway enthusiasts and locals interested in what was happening in their back yard.

During the morning, Andy England (MD CTL Seal) formally opened the event, with welcomes also from the Clan project’s president, John Pearson of the B17 SLT, and David Buck, who until recently was the owner of B1 ‘Mayflower’ and who is a supporter of both projects. As a thank you for the support CTL Seal provide, the two projects presented Andy with an ‘O’ gauge model of a railway wagon showing containers in the CTL Seal colours.

Andy England, MD of CTL Seal and the model. Photo by John Barnes.

Interest in the B17 project was intense and the B17 team were kept busy right from start to finish. Many interesting conversations were had during the day with the driving wheel and the two bogie wheel patterns being a key talking point. Many people had never seen a wooden casting pattern before and were fascinated by the process; this being helped by pictures showing the casting of the first driving wheel in late 2021. 

During the interviews with Tom Ingall, both projects and CTL Seal emphasised the benefits of this mutual collaboration. This included the sharing of knowledge and technology across the projects and younger CTL staff learning from experienced engineers.

The team

An excellent event for all concerned. My thanks to John Barnes, Jenny Pearson, Nick Illingworth, Richard Taylor and Alan Warren for help setting up and manning the stand and talking to the public about the Project. Also to  Alan and Lionel Lusby who brought along and talked about their 'Footballer' nameplates. John Pearson

Severn Valley Railway Spring Steam Gala - 14th to 16th April 2023

Celebrating 100 years since The Grouping

Eight serviceable locomotives were rostered to operate passenger and goods trains during the three day period, all being turned out in top class condition. Visitor numbers to the railway ensured that all passenger services were full on each day, which undoubtedly provided a much needed boost to the SVR fortunes. Saturday’s weather was particularly warm and sunny throughout the whole day and services extended to as late as 11pm. Mixed freight trains added to the three day spectacle and enhanced the celebratory atmosphere with open trucks and vans so familiar to the railway scene of the year’s gone by.  Locomotives in steam represented the GWR, Southern, London Midland Railway and the British Railways period as follows: Nos. 4079 Pendennis Castle, 4930 Hagley Hall, 4555, 7812 Erlestoke Manor, 7714, 21C127 (34027) Taw Valley, 43106 and 78018. GWR No. 7325 was stabled in the “Rock Siding” at Bewdley. Members Nicolas Wheatley, David Hancox and Brian Hall manned the B17 promotional stand based on the island platform 2 to meet and explain to visitors the state of progress associated with the Spirit of Sandringham project, engage with possible new members and also raise funds on behalf of the project. This also provided the opportunity to meet other B17 members and supporters who were visiting the railway. Thanks are recorded to members David Hancox and Nicolas Wheatley who had freely given of their time to support the event which was successful. Thanks are also extended to the Stationmaster and local staff who helped store and move the B17 kit each day.

Royston Model Railway Show - 1st April 2023

A welcome return to this venue after a gap of 4 years, due to Covid. The school provded, as usual, an excellent venue for the various layouts, displays and trade stands, with the school's catering facilities being well used for both stand members and the public. We were kept busy all day talking to visitors about our project, updating those who had met us before with the progress being made, and selling our branded goods, second hand models and books, along with our 2023 raffle tickets. My thanks to Jenny and the two Richards (Taylor and Tremaine) for supporting me on the day. A very worthwhile day. John Pearson.

Richard Taylor during a quiet period at the Royston show.

 London Festival of Railway Modelling - 18th / 19th March 2023

This major event was held at the fantastic venue of Alexandra Palace with over 40 layouts, 80 plus traders plus numerous clubs and societies attending. On both days, we were kept busy talking to people who stopped by to find more about our project, as well as selling our branded products and second hand models. 

Of our branded merchandise, our clothing range was very popular with purchases made of fleeces, sweatshirts, polo shirts, baseball caps and beanies. Being a modelling show, we also sold a lot of stock of donated second hand models, with many people, of course, on the lookout for a bargain! Should anyone reading this have any models they may wish to donate to us they will be very gratefully received! We also had good sales of tickets for our 2023 Grand Prize Draw.

Although the Sunday attendance was lower than on Saturday, probably due to it being Mother’s Day, our sales did not seem to suffer. As always, it was good to meet a number of members who were visiting the Festival who stopped by to catch up with us. 

All in all, a very successful good two days with plenty of sales and membership enquiries. My thanks to John and Jenny Pearson, and John Barnes for support on the Saturday, and to Eddie Savage, Richard Tremaine and John Barnes on the Sunday. With their help, setting up and taking down the stand was accomplished speedily and the stand, as always, looked the part!