The Furness Railway Trust's Great Western Railway 0-6-2T Number 5643 is spending 2008 at the railway where it started its revenue earning service 18 months ago. It's current location - the Llangollen Railway in North Wales, where it will stay for much of 2008.
This engine was a wandering minstrel for the Trust in 2007 - its return to Llangollen to see out the year was its ninth separate hire to a heritage railway that year!
Since its relaunch into traffic at the Llangollen Railway gala in September 2006 to the end of 2007, 5643 ran no less than 3678 miles, not to mention around 1500 on the back of a low loader going from one preserved railway to the next!
The locomotive had started 2007 hard at work hauling trains on the Llangollen Railway - as part of a seven month hire agreement. Then it was back home to the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway in time for the Mixed Traffic Gala weekend in May. These were the engine's first scheduled passenger duties on its home railway.
Then
it was off to the Barry
Island Railway in South Wales, a poignant booking for the engine: not
only did it see out its final days of its British Railways service shedded
in Barry, it then went "next door" to the Woodham's Scrapyard where
it languished before being saved for preservation.
On the way back north from Barry, 5643 was a guest of the East Lancashire Railway for its June gala event, and fitted in some normal duties on the Bury line before coming back to Haverthwaite for the summer gala there and for some routine maintenance work.
Then it was off again, for a month beside the seaat the North Norfolk Railway, then to the Llangollen Railway for its September gala, and penultimately a short hire period at the Great Central Railway in the East Midlands, before returning to North Wales for the Santa Specials at Llangollen.
5643 is expected to spend most of 2008 at Llangollen; if you wish to hire the locomotive, please contact us.
For full details of where 5643 is, and is planned to be, and when, please see our special page on its current whereabouts and future programme. We also have a page charting its exploits on tour.
The project had suffered a frustrating 10 month delay - when
a new regulator casting had to be made after a crack was identified in the
original in the aftermath of the engine's first run under its own power as
it celebrated its 80th birthday!
On Sunday 16th October 2005, a test steaming was carried out as part of the
final stage of an 18-year restoration programme.
The locomotive is seen here raising steam outside the goods shed in the yard
at Haverthwaite that morning.
At 2.15pm, with Trust Chairman Tim Owen and 5643 Project Leader Keith Brewer on the footplate, the regulator was opened and the engine moved off smoothly in the yard at Haverthwaite, to cheers from assembled volunteers. Half an hour later, there was a whistle chorus when the service train from Lakeside arrived to greet the newcomer.
Only a few problems surfaced - as well as the regulator, the blower and cylinder lubricator need further attention - but otherwise the locomotive threw up few surprises. Once these were rectified, the insurance company's boiler inspector came to issue a "ticket" for the boiler, and a test run was carried out on the full length of the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, exactly one month after the first steaming. The crew reported no problems - indeed they were impressed by the engine's power and sure-footedness.
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The special train is seen here (left) at Lakeside station preparing to return to Haverthwaite, and earlier (right) pausing at Linsty Green on the way up the hill from Haverthwaite |  |
The Trust has had to raise every penny of the £90,000 cost of the restoration, through donations and a variety of fund-raising methods. Volunteers have put in many thousands of hours of labour, often in the open air, to return the locomotive to working order.
5643 is the Trust's third operational steam locomotive, joining Austerity "Cumbria" and Furness Railway Number 20 all of which are based on L&HR metals.
It is hoped that 5643 will work both on the L&HR and on hire to other heritage railways.
5643 was built at the Great Western Railway's Swindon Works in October 1925. It spent its entire working life in South Wales, and was withdrawn from Barry Shed in July 1963, moving the short distance to the now famous Woodham's scrapyard in Barry. Woodham's did not scrap 5643 and over 200 other steam locomotives, thus saving them for preservation. Over 100 of this number have now been returned to steam.
Built to work in the wooded and steeply graded valleys of South Wales hauling heavy goods and passenger trains, the "56" will have a home from home at the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, and will also be available for hire to other heritage railways.
The Great Western Railway inherited a vast number of run-down or even life-expired locomotives when it absorbed the independent companies of South Wales in the 1923 railway Grouping.
There was an urgent need for new motive power, and the Chief Mechanical Engineer Charles Collett opted to base it on the successful 0-6-2T wheel arrangement that had been favoured by the independent companies. The first of two hundred locomotives, Number 5600, was finished at Swindon works in 1924. The 56xx class may not have been the best looking machines on the Great Western, but they were powerful machines for their size, and became popular with their crews.
5643 emerged from Swindon Works in October 1925. It spent its entire working life in and around South Wales.
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5643 Shed Allocations |
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October 1925 |
Coke Ovens shed (Pontypridd) |
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December 1933 |
Abercynon shed |
| June 1961 | Barry shed |
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July 1963 |
Withdrawn from service |
After 38 year's service, 5643 was withdrawn in July 1963, and was moved just a matter of yards to the now famous Woodham's scrapyard in Barry.
The owner Dai Woodham made the decision to stockpile old locomotives because he was receiving more income from scrapping railway wagons. It was a decision that effectively saved hundreds of steam locomotives from the cutting torch. 5643 was such an engine, and was one of the first to leave Barry scrapyard.
It was originally purchased for a now defunct steam operation in its native South Wales, but was soon transferred to Lancashire, and the now also closed Steamtown Railway Museum at Carnforth, near Lancaster.
It was bought in 1986 by members of the Lakeside Railway Society, moving to Haverthwaite 3 years later. The LRS later set up the Furness Railway Trust as a charity to manage its assets, and so 5643 passed to its present owners.
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Now why not read about "Cumbria",
the Furness Railway Trust's workhorse locomotive? |
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You can read about our express passenger engine, GWR 4979 "Wootton Hall" simply by clicking on the picture here. | |
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"Fluff" was our very first engine. It's been out of use for a number of years but has undergone cosmetic restoration. |
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