1000th BR Standard steam locomotive to be built at Swanage
- by the Standard Steam Locomotive Company Ltd (incorporating the Hengist 72010 Locomotive Group)

News Release dated 25th April 1999 - all photographs are copyright Andrew P.M.Wright.

UPDATE 8th June 2011: The Hengist project moved away from Swanage in 2006. For the latest information on the Hengist project, visit their dedicated website here

Swanage Railway volunteers who have built their railway from nothing are giving a home to determined enthusiasts wanting to build from scratch a massive 137 ton express 'pacific' steam locomotive BR was to have built had it not been for the 1950s Modernisation Plan.

A GROUP of ambitious and determined railway enthusiasts behind a remarkable and historic £500,000 eight year project to build the 1,000th BR Standard design steam locomotive from scratch are close to completing their move of equipment and parts to the Swanage Railway.

The Standard Steam Locomotive Company Ltd has been given a home in the relaid Purbeck Line's impressive Herston engineering works, a former cosmetics factory, in a move the company volunteers hope will enable their ambitious and historic project to advance in leaps and bounds. Over 200 parts have been collected/manufactured and all these will be on site by May 15.

"Finding a home in the Swanage Railway's magnificent engineering works is giving our project a flying start because it means we can start building 'Hengist'," said Standard Steam Locomotive Company Ltd chairman Paul Burns, a Bristol based English Welsh and Scottish freight train driver.

Formed in 1996, the Standard Steam Locomotive Company Ltd (incorporating the Hengist 72010 Locomotive Group) has 57 members determined to build a class of steam locomotive, none of which managed to survive the scrapping orgy of the 1960s.

Their first aim is to build BR Standard Class 6 4-6-2 Lightweight express pacific BR No. 72010 named 'Hengist'. BR started work on what became known as Lot 242 at Crewe in 1956 but never completed it because of the decision to change over to diesel traction. It was due to be allocated to the Southern Region.

The company is about to start a push to raise £10,000 to build the locomotive's mighty frames thanks to the Swanage Railway's hospitality - starting off with the front bogie/bogie-side frame plates, and buffer beam and side steps.

"It's apt that the Swanage Railway, which started from nothing, should give a home to Hengist's builders who are themselves starting with nothing," said Swanage Railway chairman Bill Trite.

"It's an impressive and historically important project and we're delighted to help," added Mr Trite who helped save Southern Locomotives Ltd's first two steam locomotives from the Barry scrapyard in the early 1980s.

The class was designed by the Railway Executive's design committee headed by former LMS Vice President Robert A. Riddles, the first 10 'Clan' class steam locomotives were built at Crewe between December, 1951, and April, 1952. BR required a powerful but lighter mixed traffic locomotive to work routes banned to the heavier class 7 locomotives.

The second batch, of which 'Hengist' would have been the first, actually had their frames constructed but along with plans for a large number of other BR Standards were scrapped because of dieselisation. Records show that by 1956 45 Clans should have been roaming the network. The 999th Standard design steam locomotive to be built by BR was 9F class 'Evening Star' at Swindon in 1960. When complete, 'Hengist' will be the 1,000th Standard locomotive built.

"The BR Standards were the culmination of a hundred years of designing steam locomotives in the UK. As it was known that they would be the final steam types built, a lot of thought went into their design and construction. Of the 12 classes built only 8 survived into preservation. The company's eventual aim is to see that by rebuilding the 'lost' classes at least one member of each class is represented in the preservation world. With the future aims of the Swanage Railway including a reconnection to main line we could not have found a better home," said Standard Steam Locomotive Company Ltd secretary Russell Newland.

The first five of the second batch of the locomotives were to be named after southern personalities, the next ten were to bear the name of Scottish clans as per the original batch. The full list of the Southern batch (BR Nos 72010-4) would have been Hengist, Horsa, Canute, Widfire, and Firebrand. It is appropriate that Hengist will be constructed on Southern metals, the same region where it should have been running in the 1950s.

UPDATE 8th June 2011: The Hengist project moved away from Swanage in 2006. For the latest information on the Hengist project, visit their dedicated website here