A VETERAN STEAM LOCOMOTIVE THAT HAS TAKEN 26 YEARS TO RESTORE IS TO STAR IN THE SWANAGE RAILWAY’S STEAM GALA

Press release from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 5th Sept 2005.
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Andrew P.M. Wright has supplied over 160 photos of the journey of 6695 from Herston works to Swanage on Wednesday 31st August 2005, please see the dedicated pages of photos via the news index page by clicking here.

GWR 0-6-2T No. 6695 at Corfe Castle on Wednesday 31st August 2005

An historic steam locomotive built in the 1920s rescued from a Welsh scrapyard in 1979 that has taken volunteers 26 years and £200,000 to restore to full working order is to star in this weekend’s Swanage Railway steam gala.

The annual feast of steam - in what is the Swanage Railway’s 120th year - takes to the rails of the relaid Purbeck Line in Dorset on Saturday and Sunday, September 10th and 11th, 2005, with an intensive train service between Swanage, Harman’s Cross, Corfe Castle and Norden park & ride.

With five locomotives in steam, there will be a special train service between Corfe Castle and Norden, the running of rarely seen and nostalgic freight trains, evening trains with bar and dining facilities as well as a vintage transport vehicles of yesteryear rally next to Harman’s Cross station.

Star of the show - albeit in light steam and on display to the public with the chance that she will be undertaking shunting duties at Swanage - will be Great Western Railway 0-6-2 wheel arrangement ‘Taffy’ Tank No. 6695 owned by the volunteer-run No. 6695 Locomotive Group.

No. 6695's Armstrong Whitworth maker's nameplate from 1928

No. 6695 was built in Newcastle-on-Tyne by Armstrong Whitworth for the Great Western Railway in 1928 and spent its career working in the midlands and south Wales. No. 6695’s sister engines worked down to Weymouth.

The tank locomotive ran more than 620,000 miles - the equivalent of 25 times round the world or all the way to the moon and back - for the GWR and BR before being withdrawn for scrap in the summer of 1964.

Nigel Clark of the No. 6695 Locomotive Group, who lives in Poole and works for Network Rail based at Bournemouth, said: "It is great to see the locomotive fully restored and sat at Swanage. When I first her rusting away in the Barry scrapyard in south Wales I was in my teens. When we brought her to Swanage on a road transporter in May, 1979, I never thought that she would take this long to restore but everyone has done a brilliant job on her."

Pictured at Norden are Nigel Clark and Dave Round of the 6695 Locomotive Group, and also in front of the loco are Nigel Clark, Annie Mitchell and Graham Froud.

Fellow volunteer, Dave Round, of Blandford, said: "It has taken a lot of hard work and determination to complete because we had to battle against the problems of working on her in the outdoors at Swanage station, raising money, restoring parts or having them made from new.

No. 6695 Locomotive Group chairman, Brian House, of Wimborne, said: "Everyone who has worked on the locomotive in all weathers over the years - and who have raised or donated the money needed to transform a rusting hulk into a gleaming, working steam locomotive - should be very proud of themselves. But we still need £20,000 to pay for the restoration and would appreciate any donations."

Full details of the Swanage Railway steam gala are available by calling 01929 425800 or visiting our diecated page by clicking here. Souvenir guides with working timetables are £1 from Swanage Railway stations.