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WD 2-10-0 - 90775
Photo: Ray Jordan)
History
The WD - A Brief History-By Steve Allen-cont
At about the time the Greek engines were withdrawn in 1979
the Mid-Hants railway was looking to purchase some more
powerful motive power for its extension to Alton ‘over the
Alps’. A consortium of members together with a local
businessman managed to negotiate the purchase of two of
the remaining seven WD 2-10-0s and a US Transport Corps
s160 2-8-0 and in 1984 repatriated the locomotives to the
UK. Of these, Lb960 – WD 73672 (now Dame Vera Lynn) was
initially restored at the Lavender Line in Sussex before
moving to the NYMR where is put in sterling service in the
1990s and is currently at Ian Riley’s works at Bury for
overhaul. The S160 US Transport Corp 2-8-0 3278 was
restored at the MHR and ran for a number of years as WD
701 Franklin D. Roosevelt and is currently out of traffic
awaiting overhaul. More importantly for this article, the
third engine was Lb951 which is now 90775 and is now on
the North Norfolk Railway.
90775 was the third of the first batch of 100 from NBL in
December 1943 as works number 25438 (next off the
production line after the locomotive that is now Gordon)
The Ministry of Supply initially numbered it 3652 but
after shipping abroad it was renumbered as WD 73652. From
new it is understood to have been painted in khaki-brown
for camouflage in the desert as it was shipped (with 19
others) to the Middle East where it ended up in Egypt
until 1945. It was then sold, together with 15 sister
locomotives to the SEK becoming Lb951. After a working
life in Greece of 27 years, it was eventually repatriated
in August 1984, arriving back in the UK at Ipswich Docks
onboard the Greek vessel Empros. Before departing from
Greece many worn parts had been interchanged with good (or
better) ones from the other ‘scrap’ locomotives to ensure
that restoration in the UK would be a fairly
straightforward task. Also secured at the time were a
considerable number of ‘new’ spare parts including some
complete fireboxes still in their NBL crates! The engine
was restored in a relatively short time and it entered
traffic at the Mid Hants early in 1988. During the
restoration it was stripped of the many foreign fittings
that it had gathered during 40 years overseas. To match
its new UK appearance, the locomotive first appeared on
the MHR as BR 90775 – following on from original BR number
series. In 1989 it was repainted, this time into Longmoor
Military Railway ROD red and blue livery as WD 601 Sturdee
(next in WD sequence after 600 Gordon). Its new name
followed the LMR tradition of naming engines after famous
British commanders – Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee
(1859–1925). A further move followed in 1982 when its MHR
owners sold it to the to Essex Locomotive Society who
transferred it to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
Unfortunately it was soon out of traffic for major boiler
work. Following repairs it was returned to revenue earning
service in October 1994 painted in BR black as 90775, but
this time with ‘British Railways’ in full on the tender
side. It was about this time that it starred in two
episodes of the fifth series of ITV’s popular Heartbeat
drama – ‘We’re all Allies Really’ and ‘Sophie’s Choice’.
After a further overhaul it departed from the NYMR in 2002
and moved for a year to the Great Central Railway at
Loughborough. Then in late June 2003 it moved to the NNR
and has been with us since. Late in 2004, due to
commitments on their other locomotives at the NYMR the
owners reluctantly put the engine on the market.
The M&GN Society purchased the locomotive from the
previous owners in January 2006. The engine is now a
permanent resident on the NNR.
Acknowledgement
The information used in this article was gathered from
numerous websites, the two key ones being the excellent:
www.lner.info/locos/O/WD_Austerity.shtml (The Riddles
‘Austerity’ (WD) 2-10-0s) and www.gregoriou.itgo.com/favorite_links.html
(War Department steam locomotives 1939–1945).
This article first
appeared in Joint Line, the Midland and Great Northern
Joint Railway Society's award winning quarterly journal,
which all members of the Society receive.
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