The Impossible Dream

The only locomotive built by British Railways specifically for working heavy express passenger services, class 8P 4-6-2 71000 was completed in Crewe works in April 1954. It was named “Duke of Gloucester” to commemorate the Duke’s presidency of the sixteenth International Railway Congress.

Design
71000 was designed at Derby, under the direction of Mr R A Riddles. It incorporated features not previously applied to British Railways designed locomotives; having three cylinders which distributed the steam by using British Caprotti valve gear. It was intended to be the prototype for a class of locomotives that would provide the traction for express trains until the introduction of electric traction envisaged in the 1980’s. However, in 1955 the Government introduced their “Modernisation Plan” to use Diesel traction to replace all steam locomotives until they too could be replaced by electrification. All interest by BR in steam, including the Duke, then ceased and he was left as an unfinished prototype of the final development of BR steam locomotive design.

Discarded for scrap

During 1962 he was withdrawn from service and sent for scrap to Woodhams at Barry in South Wales rotting away in the salt sea air with most of the unique parts being cut off for their scrap value. This was the very early days of fledgling preservation groups who were beginning to take an interest in restoring steam locomotives. Money was extremely tight for these pioneers and so they understandably selected locomotives in the best condition and requiring the least amount of money spent on them in order to return them to working condition. However, a schoolboy who had taken an interest in the Duke during his brief time running on the mainline thought that such a unique example of steam locomotive history should not be allowed to disappear.

He wrote an open letter to various railway magazines explain how he felt. He received a reply from a Colin Rhodes who thought this should be followed up.

The dream beckons

When Colin approached people in the preservation groups for help, they were not very enthusiastic saying that to attempt to restore such a wreck would be foolhardy, in fact they thought it would be “An Impossible Dream”. This served to encourage Colin to prove them wrong and with a small group of volunteers set about the formidable task of restoration, the likes of which had never been attempted before. After 13 years of hard work and very many set backs which involved the manufacturing from scratch of many unique parts including new Caprotti cam boxes, cylinders, coupling and connecting rods and a Kylchap exhaust system, the restoration at the Great Central Railway was completed and the Duke returned triumphantly to the mainline in the configuration, plus the Kylchap exhaust, that BR had dispatched him to the scrap yard as an unfinished prototype. This herculean effort proved what was possible given the right level of commitment and determination, providing the encouragement for many subsequent restorations and new builds that have followed.

The drawing below was printed in the Eagle comic during 1955 and perhaps it was this that encouraged the schoolboy to write the open letter.