It was announced on 30th March 2017 that the NRM has gifted ex-LSWR T3 class 4-4-0 No.563 to the Swanage Railway. No.563 is the sole surviving member of a class of 20 locos and was built in 1892.
It has not yet been announced when the T3 will move to Swanage, but it had recently been moved from the 'theatre' created by Kings Cross station for the production of 'The Railway Children', which featured No.563.
No.563 has not steamed in preservation (I don't know what the mechanical state of the loco is) and it has not been stated whether steaming the T3 will be on the agenda at Swanage - the initial plan is to put the loco on display to represent a class that operated over the Swanage branch in LSWR days.
http://www.steamrailway.co.uk/steamn...-t3-to-swanage
It is not the first time that ownership of an NRM loco has been transferred to a preservation group - the sole surviving North Staffordshire Railway 'New L' class 0-6-2T No.2 (the only surviving NSR steam loco in preservation) was gifted to the Foxfield Railway last year (2016). This decision was considered to be controversial, not only because the NRM was seen to be giving away a loco from the National Collection, but also there were other groups which would have liked the opportunity to aquire the loco, notably the Churnet Valley Railway which operates over a former NSR route. I suspect there would have been other groups that would have liked to have had the opportunity to take on the T3 - Mid Hants Railway perhaps?
Tony
2nd April 2017, 19:29
