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Y7 0-4-0T - 68088
(Photo: Coral Gillespie)
Owned by the Y7 Preservation Society
History
Y7 - A Brief History-by Steve Allen
The North Eastern Railway
had a monopoly of its section of the country, extending
along the coast from Hull to Berwick. In this area, there
were at least nine ports in which the NER had an interest
and consequently quantities of small tank engines were
needed for dockyard shunting. Most of the requirements
could be filled by standard 0-6-0 tank engines of class
J72 and J77, but there were a few locations where very
small and specialized tank engines were required. Two
similar classes were produced, an 0-6-0T and an 0-4-0T
each with domeless boilers and comprising only a few
locomotives. The Y7, 0-4-0Ts, were one of the smallest
locomotives produced by a mainline railway and amongst the
last to be fitted with the radial valve rear invented by
David Joy.
Although the design of the Y7 originates from an 1888
design from Gateshead, this number 985 was built at
Darlington in 1923. A batch of five was turned out from
Darlington in September 1923 and No. 985 - as it then was
- was sent to Alexandra Dock Shed at Hull. The dock had
been opened up in the early years of the present century
and was the only example of co-operation between two
deadly rivals - the North Eastern and the Hull and
Barnsley railways. Eventually, the North Eastern took over
the Hull and Barnsley in 1922 - much to the displeasure of
many Hull people - and Alexandra Dock became a purely
North Eastern preserve.
No, 985 remained at Alexandra Dock until June 1937 when it
was moved to Dairycoates shed, at the West end of Hull,
still for use on dock shunting. It moved to Tyne Dock,
South Shields, at the outbreak of war. In June 1943, it
was moved to Stratford Locomotive Works in East London - a
most unusual transfer, as it was rare for locomotives of
North Eastern design to be stationed off their own system.
Evidently, it found the surroundings at Stratford
congenial for it remained there until withdrawn from
running stock in late 1952. During this time, it was
renumbered to 8088 in October 1946 and to 68088 in October
1948.
Even then, it had not seen the last of Stratford, as it
was retained in departmental stock as number 34. In
November 1952 it went to the National Coal Board at
Bentinck Colliery, Nottinghamshire from where, in 1964, it
was sold to the Y7 preservation Fund who stored it at a
farm in Thurgarton, Nottinghamshire. In July 1975, it was
rescued from the barn and arrived in Loughborough that
November, complete with a spare boiler. It was steamed
again on 22nd October 1983 and has seen occasional service
since then giving brake van rides in Loughborough Yard on
special occasions.
However, being the smallest working locomotive on the GCR,
it has appeared several times at sites away from the
railway, its first appearance being at the Transport
Weekend at Donnington Park on the 24th and 25th September
1983. It has appeared in the Nottingham Festival parade on
two occasions, and at the Open days at Rushcliffe,
organised by British Gypsum on Saturday June 28th 1986 and
June 1990. A visit was made to Radcliffe Power Station
Open days on 5/6th, 12/13th September 1987 and Nottingham
Exhibition on September 1st 1999. The boiler certificate
expired in July 1993. 68088 was moved to Quorn and
Woodhouse on March 6th 1994 and transferred to GC(N)
Ruddington for display. It has since been retubed, and
returned to traffic in May 1997 as LNER 985. Vacuum
braking equipment was added shortly after, enabling the
engine to be used on passenger services. After running at
Ruddington, and several visits to the NNR, it went out of
ticket during 2003. In December 2004 it moved home again,
this time to the North Norfolk Railway where it is
undergoing work to make it operational again. |
