British Steam Preserved
There are a very healthy number of working and ‘as rescued’ steam locomotives based at the 115 or so heritage railway centres of the UK, and a lesser number displayed in museums.
The collections are made up of ex British Railways locomotives, ex industrial locomotives, imported locomotives, locomotives withdrawn from service before the formation of BR in 1948 and increasingly ‘new build’ locomotives. This publication focuses on the locations and condition of the preserved steam locomotives which became British Railways stock at the time of nationalisation and those built thereafter. There are a total of 387 ex ‘BR’ locomotives operating or awaiting restoration at UK centres.
There are certainly enough steam locos to go around and the types on view broadly represent Britain’s railways of yesteryear. In addition to operating on preserved railways, restored steam locomotives work regularly hauling special trains on the UK’s national rail network, although for how many years to come and to what extent that practice will continue is the subject of much debate. British Railways steam locomotive year-on-year stock totals illustrate that the end of steam traction was very much a gradual affair, conducted over 20 years. The number of new locomotives introduced by BR between 1948 and 1960 was a much lower total than those withdrawn from service over the same period. There were some ‘false dawns’ along the way as in order to cope with changing traffic patterns some locomotive types actually increased in number; however the overall trend was inexorably a downward one.
Figures for the 20 years 1948 to 1967 show that while the activities of the much maligned Dr Richard Beeching (BTC/BR June 1961 to June 1965), certainly gave extra momentum to the process, the withdrawal of steam locomotives was already well under way. The total number of steam locomotives in 1948 was just over 20,000, by 1960 that total had fallen to just over 13,000.
The introduction of Diesel Multiple Units and diesel locomotives, together with further electrification over the period, reduced the number of steam locomotives needed to operate the network. Later Beeching’s plans would reduce that number further, and additionally shrink the network! Large freight tonnages were steadily being lost to the ‘then’ rapidly growing road transport industry. Consider also that the coal to power the steam locomotives was transported by rail.
To get an idea of the coal tonnages moved assume that on average a tank loco tender held three tons (GWR Pannier three ton six cwts) and the average tender loco six tons (LMS Jubilee nine tons). Therefore filling all the tenders of the 1948 stock of 20,000 locomotives would take almost 100,000 tons of coal. On average serviceable locomotives would be coaled at least six times a week, many employed on express services, even twice a day.
Those simple figures illustrate that the railway’s ‘own usage’ coal tonnages were truly enormous.
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