No. 78018 is one of 65 BR Standard Class 2 2-6-0 steam locomotives built for British Railways.
Operational history[]
No. 78018 was built at Darlington North Road Works in March 1954 and entered traffic the same year at West Auckland Shed (County Durham). This was soon followed by a move to Kirkby Stephen, working trains from Tebay to Barnard Castle on the Stainmore Railway. It was then transferred to Chester Midland in April, 1960 and then in 1962 it was sent to Workington. May, 1963 saw it transferred to Willesden, then Nuneaton in September, 1965 and finally Shrewsbury before being withdrawn from service on November, 12th, 1966 and sold for scrap. It arrived at the Woodham Brothers scrapyard at Barry in June 1967.
Preservation[]
No. 78018 then spent 11 years at the Barry scrapyard before being preserved at Shackerstone in November, 1978. Little work was carried out whilst at Shackerstone and it was later re-sold to the Darlington Railway Preservation Society (DRPS) in 1981. After a 34-year restoration effort by the DRPS the locomotive was 85% complete. In 2012 it was transferred to the Great Central Railway where the remainder of the restoration work was carried out.
The locomotive returned to steam on the GCR on October 6, 2016 and is now in regular active service. Currently its boiler ticket is set to expire in 2026.
Trivia[]
- No. 78018 is one of four surviving examples of the BR Standard Class 2 2-6-0 left in preservation.
- In February, 1955 No. 78018 became famous by getting stuck in a snow drift while hauling a freight train. This resulted in creation of the short documentary film "Snowdrift at Bleath Gill."
- It is believed that No, 78018 was one of the first steam locomotives to operate on a heritage railway since lockdown began due to the coronavirus.
Gallery[]
