THE FURNESS RAILWAY TRUST

Thomas the Tank Engine for Adults!

Picture the scene: Furness Railway Number 20, the oldest working standard gauge steam locomotive in Britain, hurrying along with a splendid rake of mid-Victorian wooden-bodied carriages of the same vintage....

You might well think this has been done before. The engine is already the"must have" star turn at any gala, especially at those railways which are home to a vintage train. Remember the Keighley and Worth Valley, and North Yorkshire Moors Railways in 2000?

But imagine the chance to do all of this - with TWO vintage Victorian locomotives....??!

That was the dream behind the Vintage Gala at the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley in May 2001. Furness Railway Number 20 was brought in to perform the honours over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, providing a three day mid-Victorian railway cameo. The locomotive was also used for school trains, and in a photographic charter alongside the Centre's resident Midland Railway Kirtley 2-4-0.

Photo: Steve Huson.
Bigger version in the Picture Gallery

The Midland Railway Centre reported visitor numbers were doubled compared to previous similar events - further proof of the drawing power of Furness Railway Number 20, the engine dubbed "Thomas the Tank Engine for adults" by one visitor!

Using FR Number 20 at Butterley was particularly appropriate because the old Furness Railway Company had close links with the Midland Railway Company. The two shared a joint line between Carnforth and Wennington (on the route towards Skipton and Leeds) and the Midland helped promote the FR's Lakeside Branch that is now home to Number 20.

The vintage train at the Midland Railway Centre includes a 4-wheel carriage dating from 1866 (just three years younger than FR Number 20) which spent most of its life as part of a bungalow before being restored, complete with wooden seats but now fitted with the brakes it never had in its original railway service!

Photo: Steve Huson.
Bigger version in the Picture Gallery