Sunday, August 20, 2006

Mickey Mouse


Here's a British Railways Class 2MT 2-6-0. Built from around 1950 these engines were modelled very closely on H.G. Ivatt's equivalent LMS design and they were intended for the lightest routes and branch lines.

This is 78019. You can just about read the '12H' shed plate in the picture which was Kirkby Stephen. In fact I knew one of her her regular drivers, Dick Alderson. He lived just across the village green from our house.

Why they were called 'Mickey Mouses' I don't know but they were a very neat small design and good performers too. She'd make a nice model in 'O' gauge.

2 Comments:

At 4:29 PM, August 21, 2006, Blogger Eddie said...

Hi Iain.
Are any of this particulair class / model of 2-6-0
preserved in the U.K?

Thank You.
Eddie
http://eddiesrailroad.blogspot.com

 
At 4:50 PM, August 22, 2006, Blogger Iain said...

I don't know if there are any other members of the class preserved (may well be) but as luck would have it this actual engine is. After withdrawal 78019 languished at Barry (about which I must write soon) for seven years and was then bought and stored on the Severn Valley Railway. It was eventually moved to the Great Central Railway at Loughborough in Leicestershire and a full restoration was completed last year. I haven't had a chance to see her in steam again yet though

 

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