|
||||||||||
WELCOME
TO THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE TERRIER TRUST |
|
First
published in issue 9 of The Tenterden Terrier Spring 1976 No class of locomotive has been so closely associated with the Kent & East Sussex as the Terriers. Fifty of these light, agile and robust 0-6-0 tank engines were built for the LB&SCR between 1872 and 1880. The class proved so useful to successive owners that ten have survived to be preserved. For the Kent & East Sussex, pride of place amongst the ten survivors must go to No.3 Bodiam (LB&SCR No.70 Poplar) and No.10 Sutton (LB&SCR No.50 Whitechapel) but of the remaining eight, no fewer than six ran on the K&ESR at some time. Some came to the line on hire from the Southern (Railway), others were used in regular service on the line by British Railways whilst others paid visits to Tenterden on enthusiasts’ specials. In 1938, the K&ESR hired 2655 (LB&SCR No.55 Stepney) to help during the hop-picking season. 2655 remained until 1939 then returned to the line in British Railways days until assisting on the last day of passenger services in 1954. In 1960 this locomotive was purchased for preservation by the Bluebell Railway where it has resumed its original number and name. In 1941(but see footnotes!), 2678 (LBSCR No.78 Knowle) arrived at Rolvenden on hire and was seen regularly on the line right up to 1958. A notable occurrence during one of its visits came in 1949 when it ran off the track into marshy ground near Wittersham Road and remained firmly stuck for some time. In 1964, this engine was bought for display at Butlin’s Pwllheli Holiday Camp (but see footnotes!). The first additional Terrier sent to the line by British Railways was 32640 (LB&SCR No.40 Brighton) which visited the line regularly from 1948. Butlins also purchased this locomotive in 1964 but it has subsequently passed into the care of the Wight Locomotive Society and currently resides at their Haven Street Station. A third Terrier initially preserved by Butlins but now displayed at Bressingham is 32662 (LB&SCR No.62 Martello) which visited the K&ESR in the later days of steam operation by British Railways. 32662 shared the running of the very last steam excursion with Bodiam in June 1961. The first Terrier put into service by the LB&SCR No.72 Fenchurch did not venture onto the Kent & East Sussex until its freight-only period when, as 32636, it was retained at Ashford to deputise should the regular diesel locomotives assigned to the line fail. Fenchurch was sold to the Bluebell Railway in 1964. |
| Charity
No. 1050480 |
The other Terrier to survive of those that traversed the K&ESR did so only once; DS680 (LB&SCR No.54 Waddon) hauled a Ramblers Association special over the line in 1959. However, this “friends” cannot be more “absent” than this one as it now resides at Montreal under the auspices of the Canadian Historical Association!
Colonel Stephens appreciated the merits of the Terriers and purchased samples not only for the K&ESR but also for the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire and Weston, Clevedon & Portishead lines. Only Bodiam survives of the Colonel’s Terriers but it is fortunate that six other Terriers with a K&ESR (pre-preservation) connection should also have survived.
- E N D -
Footnotes:-
In
The Tenterden Terrier, this article was sub-headed No.3 The Terriers but
it has been altered here to avoid any possible confusion with loco Bodiam.
It was one of a series looking at surviving engines that worked and/or
were based on the K&ESR. Italics around Terriers have been deleted
and names changed to italic script
Knowle actually first hired to the K&ESR in February 1940, literally just in time for the Battle of Britain!
Whitechapel/Sutton never ran on the K&ESR prior to its acquisition for preservation via the London Borough of Sutton
The two other Terriers which never worked on the K&ESR are LB&SCR No.82 Boxhill now in the NRM at York which survives in virtually A(1) condition rather than variants of A1X and LB&SCR No.46 Newington or Isle of Wight No.8 Freshwater, like Bodiam, the recipient of a new boiler
The seaside locations of the three Butlins Terriers were Brighton at Pwllheli, Martello at Point of Ayr and Knowle at Minehead, to which the latter would famously return in the autumn of 2004
I think this
is a fascinating article, written 30 years’ ago, and although no
more than a bald statement of fact (and indeed some errors of fact) from
the mid-1970s, is a perfect datum from which to put the history of the
Terriers throughout the last quarter of the C20th and into C21th into
proper context. Coming off the back of record inflation and interest rates,
could anyone at the time have imagined that two Terriers would be rebuilt
with brand new boilers or that a generation later, 32678 would be returned
to steam on its spiritual home after an extraordinary nomadic existence
almost since commissioning
HN-30/12/2005