Tender Behind?

Whilst 76084 received some attention during her stay at Woodham Brothers' Barry Scrapyard in the form of a coating of red lead not so her Mark 2A tender. Indeed, her tender provides an interesting view into who had ideas about preserving either the tender itself or the loco and tender together.

I've just come across some interesting images new to me taken at Barry. Most of them are familiar Driver's side front three-quarter or from the front showing the other locos she was stored with but one photo shows the Driver's side rear three-quarter view with the tender nearest the camera and showing loads of daubed on messages about (future) ownership.

The image I'm referring to is contained in an album part of John Kendrick's Photo Gallery which is, as you can see, online. Let me take you directly to the image here. Study the various messages on the side of 76084's tender (and it is 76084 evidenced by the now pink coat of red lead). How many different railways can you see written on the tender?

As an aside to the main topic of this article you can clearly see the 'Horwich Lining' technique applied to tenders painted there which has been faithfully repeated during 76084's restoration. That is, the rear vertical lining comes down short of the tank end in line with the step on the tank shoulder so that the early BR Crest can be applied over a single horizontal line of rivet heads and not a cross of them.

1. HRPS stands for the Hallamshire Railway Preservation Society who reserved 76084 in 1974 and spent time painting the loco in undercoat. A move that ultimately came to naught as the Society's Treasurer used their funds to buy a Brake Van instead!! 
2. Bluebell Railway is plain to see dated 6 December 1979. This is interesting because the other cabside has E.L.R on it before it was undercoated in 1974 and the 3 September 1977 edition of 'The Barry List' has her reserved for the East Lancashire Locomotive Society.
   The Bluebell Railway also 'bought' BR 2MT 78059 a few days later - on 12 December 1979 as shown in this image. This number appears in our image towards the rear of the tender. Perhaps the master plan was the 2MT + this tender as a pair. Who knows? 78059 did make it to the Bluebell but without this tender and now forms the basis from which a BR Standard 2MT 2-6-2 tank 84030 will be built.
3. NYMR is there twice! One of them has SOLD with the date 29 January 1980 next to it. How many times did this tender get SOLD?

As with so many initiatives concerning Barry locos none of these came to fruition and Pip Rollin stepped in in late 1982 to buy both loco and tender and as they say the rest is history. 

The 76084 Locomotive Company Limited has just passed its 18th birthday and is looking forward to seeing her perform on the BIG railway in the no-too-distant future.