Following the ground-breaking purchase of an appropriate pair of bogies at a key plank in the project, as we reported in our last issue, the Ivatt Diesel Re-creation Society has just launched a nationwide appeal for £100,000 towards its project to build a replica of Britain’s first main line diesel locomotive service in regular service – D16/1 LMS 10000.
On September 3, 2016, Sir Patrick Loughlin, the MP for Derbyshire Dales and former Secretary of State for Transport appeared before a crowd of assembled guests at Rowsley South on Peak Rail to perform the official launch ceremony for Project Icon – which aims to replicate Britain’s first main line diesel electric locomotive.
No. 10000 was one of a pair of locomotives designed and built by the LMS and English Electric, but unfortunately subsequently scrapped by Cashmore’s scrapyard in 1968 – months before BR ran its last main line steam-hauled passenger train.
The Ivatt Diesel Re-creation Society has already acquired a ‘donor’ locomotive for the project in the form of Class 58 diesel No. 58022. It also owns a genuine English Electric 16SVT engine, which is in good working order, having only 400 hours of operation and a full maintenance history. Both the Class 58 and the engine are located at Rowsley South.
As reported in issue 250 last month, at the end of December the society bought a suitable set of bogies for the project from the EM2 Locomotive Society, following a successful fundraising campaign among charity members and supporters.
They previously ran under Nederlandse Spoorwege No. 1503, which was formerly BR No 27004 Juno, and were originally obtained by the EM2 Locomotive Society as spares for its locomotive, No. 27000.
The bogies used on the EM2/Class 77 locomotives are very similar to those used on No. 10000 and its twin sister No. 10001, and also the Class 41 North British D600 Warships, none of which survive. The two diesel classes had stronger suspension fitted in view of the heavier weight of the locomotives. During their decades of use in The Netherlands, various alterations were made, including changes to the braking system and the addition of new sandboxes. These alterations will be reversed during the refurbishment process.
Read more and view more images in Issue 251 of HR – on sale February 15!
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