C.V.R. Steam Gallery

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Steam locos come and go on the C.V.R., although the S160 Class 5197 seems to be a permanent feature.

Click the thumbnails to enlarge the images.

GWR Large Prairie 5199

5199 was on loan for 2009 from the Llangollen Railway, having originally arrived for the winter steam gala. It was built by the Great Western Railway in Swindon in 1934.
Here, it is just pulling in to Consall Station.
It hung around for the steam gala in February 2010. Here, it is sitting in Kingsley and Froghall station as the front half of a double header with GWR Small Prairie 5542.

Stanier 8F 8624

8624 is on loan for 2010 from Peak Rail in Derbyshire. It's a recently-restored loco. of the same type as 48173. It was built in 1943 and was based at Willesden in London until retirement in 1965. After sixteen years in a scrap yard, it was rescued by Peak Rail, where it was restored to running condition in 2009.
Here, it is running round at Leekbrook, i.e. moving from one end of the train to the other.
The "LMS Crimson Lake" livery is not original and, therefore, bound to cause offence to the sort of people who care about these things. As a freight loco. it would originally have been all black.
The loco. is scheduled to stay on the C.V.R. at least until the steam gala in February 2011.

GWR Small Prairie 5542

5542 is normally based down in the south-west, which is appropriate for an ex-GWR loco. However, in 2010 it came up north for the steam gala as a late replacement for "Duke of Gloucester" (BR Class 8 Pacific locomotive No 71000), which was withdrawn because of overrunning repairs.

S160 Class 5197
The S160's were built in the U.S.A. and some were sent to Britain during WWII. This one is in US Army Transportation Corps colours as used in 1944/45. It looks crude because it is crude: a stop-gap solution never intended to last. This one, however, managed a 50-year career hauling coal in China.
Some time since the previous picture was taken, the loco has been turned to face in the opposite direction. Here it is letting off steam in Kingsley and Froghall Station.
And waiting to leave Consall, again, facing towards Cheddleton.
And again at Consall, this time close up from the towing path of the Caldon Canal.
As one of the stalwarts of the C.V.R., it played its part in the 2008 winter steam gala.
And here it is, running tender-first down the M6 in Cheshire, with the help of a low loader. At the end of 2009, its boiler ticket expired and, for the time being, it is no longer running.

4F 44422

Fowler 4F 44422 was built in Derby for the Midland Railway in 1927. Back in 1990, it was the first resident steam engine to run on the C.V.R. after restoration at Cheddleton. It began a return visit, in early 2008, by taking part in the winter steam gala.
It came back for the 2009 gala, too. The weather was cold, which was good for condensation, so that it was wreathed in steam as it sat in Kingsley and Froghall station.
At the end of March, it was deployed for an extra Saturday afternoon's running, for the AGM of the 44422 Locomotive Fund. This was meant to be the start of a stay on the C.V.R., for the 2009 season, but it had to be returned to Crewe in August, after developing "excessive knocking noises".
In the mid-20th century, 4Fs, like this one, would have been a common sight pulling limestone trains from the quarries at Caldon Low.
This particular one probably never found its way up there, however, having spent its working life first around Leicester and then down in the South-West.

Standard Tank 80098
80098 is a BR Standard 4MT Tank locomotive built in 1954. It was on long-term loan at the C.V.R. but returned to its home at the Midland Railway Centre, Butterley, in mid-2008. It's pictured here approaching London Bridge, near Consallforge, one of the few bridges over the line.
When not in use, it could often be found sitting in the yard at Cheddleton along with many of the C.V.R.'s other assets. In this case, a diesel shunter with a brake van in front and Diesel Multiple Unit 50455/50517 behind.
Letting off steam, 80098 waits to leave Consall Station and head for Froghall.
In winter, here are no leaves on the trees and no undergrowth to obscure the views. The railway runs close to towing path of the Caldon Canal between Froghall and Consallforge.
In the winter steam gala of 2008, it played its part, amongst other things, in this double-header with S160 5197. Here, it is waiting in Consall station. The D.M.U. on the other line was being hauled as a carriage by 4F 44422.

7821 'Ditcheat Manor'

Seen here waiting in Consall station back in 2006, 'Ditcheat Manor' is an ex-British Rail engine, built to a Great Western Railway design in 1950. Unfortunately, in 2007, its boiler ticket expired, so it could no longer run.
In May 2008 it was sitting rather forlornly in Cheddleton yard, waiting for "movement or sale". It has since been aquired by the West Somerset Railway.

Black 5 45231 'The Sherwood Forester'
Stanier Black 5 class 4-6-0 45231 'The Sherwood Forester' visited for the 2009 winter steam gala. It was a mixed traffic engine, built on Tyneside in 1936 by Whitworth and Co.
The weather was obligingly wintery, with snow on the ground on the first day and more beginning to fall on the second.

3F 'Jinty' 47279

In October 2008, 3F 47279 was on an exchange visit from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, with S160 5179 heading in the other direction for a steam gala.
This engine was originally built for the L.M.S. in 1925.

Stanier 8F 48173
Stanier 8F 48173 is a star of the future. It was aquired from the Avon Valley Railway by a C.V.R. director and will be restored at Cheddleton. This is how it looked in early 2008, during the winter steam gala.

Beyer Peacock 1827

1827 normally lives on the Foxfield Railway a few miles away in Blythe Bridge. It's quite an old loco. originally built in 1879. During the 2010 winter steam gala, it was sitting in the yard at Cheddleton waiting for an overhall.




Standard Tank 80072

80072 is a close relative of 80098 which normally lives on the Llangollen Railway. It visited the C.V.R. in February 2010 for the winter steam gala.


The official railway website is at www.churnet-valley-railway.co.uk