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Nene Valley Railway

BR 5MT 4-6-0 - 73050 'City of Peterborough'

 


© 2005-2010 NVR

 Introduction 1954 1956 1960 1961 1963 1964 1968 Undated Preservation 

Line drawing of 73050

The Loco

73050 © Bob RushbyBritish Railways built 172 of these locomotives from 1951 until 1957 as a development of the LMS Black 5, of which no fewer that 842 were built.

The locomotive and tender weigh, in working order, 128˝ tons with 7 tons of coal and 5000 gallons of water in the tender. All wheels have roller bearing axleboxes with manganese steel liners on the axlebox and horn guides. The two cylinders are 19 in. diameter by 28 in. stroke. The driving wheel diameter 6 ft. 2 in. and the tractive effort is 26,120 lbs. The boiler pressure is 225 lbs./sq. in. and a rocking grate is fitted, the area being 28.7 sq. ft.

History

Willesden Exhibition bookletWillesden Exhibition ticket

The BR Standard 5 was designed at the old LNER works at Doncaster, some of the class being built therein but most, including 73050, being built at Derby. 73050 left Derby works on 14th April 1954 and was chosen to represent the class at the "International Railway Congress, Willesden, London" between 26th & 29th May 1954, the cover of the guide book from the event is shown on the left and a ticket to the event is shown on the right.

After the exhibition, 73050 moved to its home shed of Bath Green Park to take up duties on the Somerset & Dorset (S&D) line from Bath to Bournemouth. 73050 was one of only 3 BR Standard Fives (73050 to 73052) to be built with the larger BR1G tender for working over this route - The only other locomotives to use these tenders were the large 9F, including the last steam locomotive to be built for BR, 92220 "Evening Star".

73050 sometimes piloted the famous "Pines Express". It remained on the S&D until 1964 when it was moved to Shrewsbury, before spending some time in store. In 1966 another move took 73050 to Agecroft, in Manchester, before finally ending up at Patricroft and eventual withdrawal in July 1968 having run approximately 825,000 miles.

Preservation

73050 at British Sugar in 1974 © Roy Harrison

Letters in the Railway's archive indicate that 73034, 73053 and 73136 were also considered for preservation, but 73050 was finally selected by the Rev. Richard Paten to be preserved in Peterborough. 73050 moved from Manchester to Peterborough in steam on the night of 11th September 1968 (one full month after the end of steam on BR). Richard kept his new engine on a siding at the old Peterborough East station. He borrowed a compressor, and the engine was driven along the siding, on a mere 40 psi of air!!! So there it was a privately owned steam engine working, in the middle of Peterborough, and generating a lot of interest. This was the embryonic start of the Nene Valley railway we have today. The Loco was stored at various locations around the city until in 1971 it moved to the British Sugar Corporations factory at Woodston. In 1972 it was steamed for the first time in preservation, being named "City of Peterborough" by the Mayor of Peterborough on 28th August 1972. Richard Paten then donated the locomotive to the City Council in 1973, who in turn leased it to the NVR for 99 years.

73050 continued to be steamed at various open days at the sugar factory and also steam days at Wansford until 1975, when an overhaul was required.

During 1977 the locomotive was moved to the city based factory of Peter Brotherhoods, where a major overhaul was undertaken as an apprenticeship project over the following three years, returning to the NVR on 16th July 1980 now carrying the BR Brunswick Green livery carried by some of her classmates that had been overhauled at Swindon.

On the 30th June 1986, 73050 was driven by HRH Prince Edward when he opened the extension from Orton Mere in to Peterborough (Nene Valley). By 1987 the locomotive required another overhaul, which was started in the early 1990s. This was a very heavy, thorough, and time consuming overhaul; The entire loco was dismantled. New manganese steel was fitted to the axlebox horns (the bit that lets the wheels move up and down over bumps in the track), the paint on the frames was found to peel off easily; all parts were painstakingly stripped back to bare metal and re-painted. Much of the old firebox had begun to develop cracks (black five disease). Large patches of the outer firebox had to be cut out, along the bottom of each side, and up the corners at the back. New patches were cut, shaped and welded in. A new smoke box was fitted by the railways own fitters, new boiler cladding and a new cab fabricated from laser cut parts and hot riveted together. Sadly most of the original copper pipework was stolen and all this had to be painstakingly made again from scratch. The engine\'s air brakes, fitted in 1979 were modified so that the engine\'s brakes now work in conjunction with the air brakes on a train. Every valve and component was dismantled and overhauled, with the intention of making the loco as reliable as possible for the next ten years. The engine was pressed back into traffic in July 2005, before some of the finishing touches could be made. It is hoped to complete these works in January 2006, after which we should have a very fine engine indeed, a credit to all those volunteers and staff that put in many thousands of man hours.

The new nameplate © Brian Hallett

During its latest overhaul the membership were given the choice of returning the engine to traffic in either BR Brunswick Green or BR Black, the membership chose black by 217 votes to 197. The nameplates were also changed to be representative of those carried by the standard fives that worked on the Southern Region.

But this is not the end of the story; the task of maintaining the loco now begins. For instance, the loco's wheels already need further coats of paint. It's a very rewarding, enjoyable job. If you can spare even a little time, please call Alan on 01780 781676 (at 10:00, 12:30, or 15:00) and find out what an enthralling experience working with steam loco's can be !

Reports by the Mechanical Group on 73050's most recent overhaul can be found by clicking here

Page Updated: 5th January 2008