GWR 6000 Class 6024 King Edward I

King Edward I is a GWR 6000 Class steam locomotive.

The locomotive was built in June 1930, and was originally housed at Plymouth Laira dept, before being transferred to Old Oak Common, London, in March 1959 and finally to Cardiff Canton depot in 1962.

Withdrawn from BR service in the June of 1962, No. 6024 was eventually sold to Woodham Brothers with No. 6023 King Edward II, and both locomotives found their way to Barry Island, South Wales for scrap, where they languished in the company of over 200 other locomotives, while the cutting torches were applied to easier, more lucrative targets.

Preservation

Inspired by preserved class-mate No. 6000 King George V's 1971 breach of British Rail's steam ban, in 1973 the King Preservation Society bought No. 6024 for around £4,000, with the purpose of restoring it to mainline condition. With many components missing, including its double-chimney (currently fitted to No. 6000), and with piston, connecting and eccentric rods and slide-bars cut through, at the time the project had all the appearances of the ultimate "mission impossible". Both Nos. 6023 and 6024 were available for purchase but No. 6024 was preferred, because after a derailment in the Barry yard No. 6023 had had its rear driving wheels torched through and at the time was considered beyond repair.

In 1974, the 36th locomotive to be rescued from Barry, No. 6024 was moved to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road, and the Society made slow but steady progress towards the restoration of the locomotive. In 1981 the renamed 6024 Preservation Society Limited introduced a new funding initiative, the Club 100, which in crucial ways proved the project's turning-point and by 1984 was fully subscribed. The revenue-stream generated by the Club 100, and its successor the Club Sixty-Twenty Four, enabled progress to accelerate and has become the highly successful financial foundation for all of the Society's activities.

Restoration

The restoration to mainline running condition at Quainton Road - in the open air for the first twelve years - took sixteen years by Society members, but it was worth it. On the 2nd February 1989, No. 6024 moved again under its own power, and amidst considerable public interest and media coverage it was re-commissioned on 26th April 1989 by HRH the Duke of Gloucester. In October 1989 the engine was moved by low-loader from Quainton Road to the Birmingham Railway Museum (now Tyseley Locomotive Works), from where it completed its mainline test runs. On the 15th April 1990, it resumed its mainline career hauling revenue-earning passenger trains.

In recognition of the high standard to which the locomotive had been restored, No. 6024 was outright winner of the 1990 British Coal sponsored Heritage Award (for a restoration project using coal), and awarded a £3,000 prize which was put towards the restoration of a British Railways Mark 1 BSK coach, for transporting support crew and equipment for mainline work.

Main line tours

The Society was invited by British Rail to provide No. 6024 to haul the InterCity VIP special on the 19th May 1990. In July 1990 it appeared at the National Railway Museum Exhibition On Tour which was held at Swindon Works, where it celebrated its 60th anniversary and was stabled alongside classmate No. 6000 King George V.

Affectionately nick-named "Spud One" the locomotive quickly became a favourite mainline star. Based at either Tyseley, Didcot or Hereford, it repeatedly put on exhilarating performances in its expanding mainline programme, hauling trains to Derby, Birmingham, Stratford upon Avon, Swindon, Newport, Shrewsbury and Chester. In late 1991 the locomotive was invited to haul the "William Shakespeare Express" from London Paddington, its first appearance there for almost thirty years.

As open access to the national network brought more routes into play in early 1992, No. 6024 was increasingly seen hauling passenger charter trains on a number of previously banned routes, including the mainlines to the West of England via Bristol, and South Wales through the Severn Tunnel. Fitted with BR's standard Automatic Warning System (permitting speeds up to 75 mph), No. 6024 reintroduced steam-hauled express passenger trains to a number of new destinations within western zones for the first time for many years, including Cardiff, Bristol Temple Meads, Gloucester, Exeter, Swansea, Worcester, Newton Abbot and Paignton.

In August 1992 the locomotive made its promised return to Quainton Road, this time via the mainline, when in the company of GWR 4073 Class 5029 Nunney Castle it hauled shuttles to and from Aylesbury. However, plans to take a train to Plymouth were thwarted by the locomotive‘s cab height preventing it from passing an over-bridge at Plympton.

Modifications

After running almost 10,000 mainline miles, in March 1995 the locomotive withdrew from traffic for its heavy overhaul at the end of its mainline boiler certificate, and it retired to a secure Ministry of Defence site at Kineton in Warwickshire for the Society to carry out the work. In September 1996 it reappeared with a number of small but significant modifications, incorporated in order to make it more adaptable and to increase its availability.

The modifications included the fitting of dual-braking equipment (air and vacuum) to increase flexibility in the use of passenger rolling stock, and the reduction of its chimney, safety valves and cab-roof heights to permit it to fit within the standard loading gauge. This allowed it to make its triumphant return to Plymouth, first double-headed in November 1996, and then in April 1997 running solo This was the first time an unassisted steam locomotive had been entrusted with a passenger train over the route since the early 1960s.

More tours

As well as returning to many of its traditional western locations, No. 6024 has also hauled trains on many of the national network's other major routes, some of which are under the 25kV wires, and has been seen at points as far-flung as Penzance, Falmouth, Par, Carmarthen, Fishguard, Crewe, Holyhead, Preston, Carlisle, Blackburn, York, Leeds, Doncaster, Peterborough, Norwich, Cambridge, Salisbury, Bournemouth, Weymouth, and the London termini of King's Cross and Victoria (as well as Paddington). Few of these destinations ever saw a King class in Great Western and British Railways days. King Edward I has since returned to Plymouth unassisted on a number of occasions and in August 2002 broke the record for steam with the fastest modern-day time for the 52 miles from Plymouth to Exeter, in 58 minutes 6 seconds.

The engine has made appearances at MPD open days and other special events at Bescot, Gloucester, Exeter, Old Oak Common and Swansea. It has stabled at the MPDs at Old Oak Common, Stewarts Lane, Bounds Green (all in London), Aylesbury, Swansea, Cardiff, Newport, Bristol, Gloucester, Exeter, Laira, St. Blazey in Cornwall and Carlisle Upperby in Cumbria. It also appears in steam regularly at steam centres and on mainline-connected preserved lines. It has made visits to the Great Western Society at Didcot, the Bulmers Railway Centre in Hereford, the Severn Valley Railway, Tyseley Locomotive Works, the West Somerset Railway, the Crewe Heritage Centre, the National Railway Museum in York , the Bodmin & Wenford Railway, the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway, the Southall Steam Centre, the Yeovil Railway Centre, and the Watercress Line (Mid Hants Railway).

More modifications

With a further 15,000 mainline miles on the clock, in October 2002 the locomotive was again withdrawn for its second major overhaul, which was being carried out by the Society within the site of Tyseley Locomotive Works. To keep pace with safety improvements the locomotive was fitted with standard Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS), and the Society also completed its Water Wagon project for mainline trials. This will enable mainline water-stops to be avoided on certain routes. No. 6024 returned to the mainline on 7 October 2004, on its third 7-year main line certificate.

Royal train

On 10th June 2008, 6024 hauled the Royal Train, with Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on board, from Kidderminster Town to Bridgnorth on the Severn Valley Railway. Before leaving the SVR to resume its mainline appointments a broken tender axlebox was discovered that delayed its departure. Once repaired, a further delay was incurred by a defect in the air pump.

External links

* [http://www.huwbutton.com/6024/main.htm http://www.huwbutton.com/6024/main.htm]