Bullied Light Pacific 34070 Manston - Restoration

Bulleid Battle of Britain classmates 257 Squadron and Manston side by side in Herston Works.

Our Manston pages are broken down as follows:

  Manston introduction

  Manston in regular service

  Manston Restoration

  Manston on the Swanage Railway

  Manston Gallery

Please select from the above links to view more information.

In 1978, Manston was purchased from Barry Scrapyard by the Manston Locomotive Preservation Society led by Tony Laming. Restoration started alongside fund-raising while the locomotive was housed at Richborough power station in Kent.

After twelve years, the group was told to vacate the site and Manston was moved to the Great Central Railway in Loughborough. In September 1998 after a sale to Southern Locomotives Manston was transferred to Sellindge in Kent. It became part of a small fleet of Bullied pacific locomotives that were in different stages of overhaul.

In 2001, a crane lifted the boiler and frames from the wheels. The frames were then grit-blasted. The superheater elements and tubes were removed from the boiler. The wheels were sent to Swindon for turning. The bogie and pony truck along with the cab and small fittings were sent to Herston Works in Swanage for overhaul.

The overhauled pony truck and bogie were returned to Sellindge in 2004 so that they could be fitted to the frames and then returned to Herston Works by low loader. The boiler was sent to Crewe for overhaul.

Progress was rapid in Herston Works and it was anticipated that Manston would return to service at some point in 2008. The expectation was correct and Manston was transferred to the Swanage Railway by road on 2nd September 2008. The engine then underwent several weeks of testing and fettling at Swanage shed.

Manston 's tender had been built from scratch. It was delivered to Swanage railway on 1st September 2008, one day before the locomotive. It had not been possible to rescue the engine's original tender from Barry scrapyard. Other Bullied Pacific owners required new tenders so some of the tooling costs were saved by placing orders for steel plate for six tenders at the same time. These steel plates had to be specially rolled as they were imperial thicknesses that are no longer produced.

Manston 's first trip on the Swanage Railway was 14th September 2008 when it worked light from Corfe Castle to Swanage before marshalling the yard at Corfe and returning with a freight train to Swanage. It later double-headed a passenger train with rebuilt West Country 34028 Eddystone. This was the first public passenger train hauled by Manston since the summer of 1964. It was timed to coincide with Swanage Railway's Grand Steam Gala which was taking place over the weekend.

Afterwards it double headed a passenger train with rebuilt West Country 4-6-2 No 34028 Eddystone. This was the first public service train pulled by Manston since the summer of 1964.

The restoration of Manston had cost £750,000, taken five years and had transformed the engine from a rusting scrapyard wreck to a gleaming, powerful passenger engine.