Swanage Railway News Gallery - Page 6Happy 50th Birthday to 257 Squadron at Swanage - Friday April 24th 1998Report and photographs by Andrew P.M. Wright and Keith MorganA mighty and remarkable 110 ton Leviathan of steam that rose like a phoenix from the depressing ashes of a Welsh scrapyard to become the UK's fastest restored ex-scrapyard steam locomotive - and is now a poignant and fully working reminder of a brave Battle of Britain Royal Air Force squadron - celebrates its 50th birthday on Friday April 24th 1998.
Update: Two 257 Squadron fighter pilots to meet with 257 Squadron on Sunday 26th April It was built to a pioneering wartime design at Brighton in 1948, named after a brave Battle of Britain Hawker Hurricane squadron, spent 16 years hauling crack express trains for British Rail across the east, south and west of England before being ignominiously dumped in a Welsh scrapyard for cutting up in 1965. But steam locomotive No 34072 '257 Squadron' escaped the cutters torch and - after spending 19 years rusting away in the salty sea air of the Barry Scrapyard - was saved by a group of railway enthusiasts for £8,000 and restored to full working order at a cost of £250,000 and in just two years; a then British railway preservation record Now, the 110 ton 'Battle of Britain' class steam locomotive - named after the RAF's 257 Squadron which fought in the the Battle of Britain during the summer of 1940, was later based at Warmwell near Dorchester, Dorset, and went on to Gloster Meteor and Hawker Hunter jets before being disbanded in the 1950s - is cetebrating its 50th birthday hauiing trains on the Swanage Railway.
A gleaming No. 34072 '257 Squadron' will be celebrating its 50th birthday on Friday, April 24th, 1998 - 50 years to the day since it entered service with the newly nationalised British Railways - by hauling the prestigious 'Golden Arrow' Pullman driving and firing footplate experience along the relaid Purbeck Line to Corfe Castle and Norden. Launched on 15th January 1998 it allows anyone to 'have a go' at firing and driving this pristine steam locomotive. See the Golden Arrow Driving Experience dedicated news page for further details.
Designed by the Southern Railway's pioneering chief mechanical engtneer Oliver Bulleid, '257 Squadron' was saved from the famous railway locomotive scrapyard at Barry Island, South Wales, during 1984 by then London medical marketing executive Bill Trite, now chairman of the volunteer-run Swanage Railway, for £8,000 on behalf of the Port Line Locomotive Project which later became Southern Locomotives Ltd. '257 Squadron' was restored at the Swindon Heritage Centre, the former famous Great Western Railway works, and hauled its first passenger train out of Swanage - in the presence of several Battle of Britain and 257 Squadron veterans - in November, 1990: just two months after the Battle of Britain's 50th anniversary.
Since its triumphant return to a working life in 1990, '257 Squadron' has occasionally left its operating base at Swanage to haul trains on several preserved railways around the country: a truly majestic ambassador for the RAF's former 257 Squadron and its pilots and ground support staff. Flying the famous Hawker Hurricane fighters out of RAF stations at Hendon, Northolt and then Debden during the Battle of Britain, No. 257 Squadron switched to Typhoon lB aircraft and moved to Middle Wallop in north Hampshire and Warmwell near Dorchester in Dorset during 1943. No. 34072 '257 Squadron' departs Swanage station with the Golden Arrow Pullman train on Friday, April 24th, 1998, at 11.05 am, 12.15 pm, 1.25 pm, 2.35 pm and 3.45 pm. On Saturday and Sunday, it departs Swanage at 10.30 am, 11.40 am, 12.50 pm, 2pm, 3.10 pm, 4.20 pm and 5.30 pm.
Here we see the locomotive making light work of a goods train movement and having its lamps changed at Swanage Station on 14th September 1997 during the Annual Grand Steam Gala which has its own dedicated news page. Update: Two 257 Squadron fighter pilots to meet with 257 Squadron on Sunday 26th April A former wartime fighter pilot and a 1950s Hawker Hunter jet pilot who served with the Royal Air Force's 257 Sauadron are to meet for the first time in Swanage on Sunday, April 26th, 1998, to celebrate the 50th birthday of a remarkable and historic steam locomotive named in tribute to their old and much-loved squadron. They served with the same Royal Air Force squadron - one flying Typhoon fighters during the Second World War and the other flying Hawker Hunter jets during the bright new dawn of the 1950s - and this weekend the Jerry Eaton and Pat Fleming meet for the first time to celebrate the 50th birthday of an historic steam locomotive named after their old squadron. The nostalgic pair from two contrasting eras of the Royal Air Force's 257 Squadron - piston engines and jets - wilt be at Swanage station from 2 pm on Sunday, April 26th, 1998, to salute '257 Squadron' the express steam locomotive which escaped death through the cutter's torch to reach its golden anniversary. Awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross, Jerry Eaton, 76, of Christchurch in Dorset will be seeing for the first time the lovingly restored 'Battle of Britain' class Bulleid Pacific steam locomotive No. 34072 - named '257 Squadron' and carrying the RAF squadron's crest and motto Death or GIory - as it hauls trains on the Swanage Railway's relaid Purbeck Line to Corfe Castle and Norden. A Halton apprentice who learnt to fly in Oklahoma, Jerry joined the RAF in January, 1937, and left as a Wing Commander in October, 1972. Between March, 1944, and March, 1945, while with No. 257 Squadron - which fought in the Battle of Britain during 1940 and was based at Warmwell in Dorset during 1943 - Jerry was based at Tangmere, Lymington, Hurn, Normandy and the Low Countries. Also helping the 110 ton '257 Squadron' - built in 1948 at Brighton for the newly nationalised British Railways before enjoying an active working life across the south-east, south and 'Nest of England before being scrapped in 1965 - celebrate its 50th birthday will be Pat Fleming, 64, who moved from Ferndown to from Portreath in Cornwall a year ago and has flown a total of 20,000 hours. Pat served with 257 Squadron at Wattisham during 1957 where he flew Hawker Hunter jets By co-incidence, Pat is now a volunteer signalman on the Swanage Railway - where No. 34072 '257 Squadron' is based - and retired after a 40 year flying career in 1994. He spent 16 years with the RAF before flying Boeing 747s with British Airways for 19 years and spending five years with Virgin. Royal Air Farce before flying Boeing 747s with British Airways for 19 years and then spending five years with Virgin before pursuing a retirement career as a Swanage Railway signalman. No. 257 Squadron was known as the Burmese Squadron during the Second World War as some of its aircraft were paid for by the Burmese Government. Indeed, No. 34072 '257 Squadron' above the squadron emblem on the steam locomotive's boiler sides carries the motto 'Death or Glory' in Burmese. Built at Brighton in 1948, No. 34072 '257 Squadron' started work in April of that year and during the next 16 years hauled crack express trains across the south-east, south and west of England. It was withdrawn from traffic in October, 1964, and sent to the famous railway scrapyard at Barry Island in south Wales in March, 1965. But the locomotive escaped the cutter's torch and was saved by Bill Trite - now Swanage Railway chairman - in 1984 for £8,000 for the Port Line Locomotive Project which later became Southern Locomotives Ltd. After £250,000 and two years, '257 Squadron' hauled its first train out of Swanage station in November, 1990: just two months after the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. No. 34072 '257 Squadron' locomotive fact file
Saturday April 24th, 1948: Entered traffic with the newly formed British Railways. Royal Air Force '257 Squadron' fact file: Motto - Death or Glory.
August, 1918: Formed at Dundee, Scotland, as an anti-submarine reconnaissance
squadron equipped with seaplanes.
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Still with its futuristic 1940s streamlined casing known as a 'spam can', '257 Squadron' is owned by
the Kent-based Southern Locomotives Ltd which has nine steam locomotives and has so far
restored three of them to full working order. In 1990, '257 Squadron' was their second ex-BR main
line engine to be restored from a rusting hulk to a shining and powerful steam machine.
On the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, April 25th and 26th, 1998, '257 Squadron' - still carrying
its 'Golden Arrow' reglia of giant gold arrows on the locomotive's side as well as British and French
flags and headboard - will be hauling the normal service train between Swanage, Harman's Cross,
Corfe Castle and Norden 'park and ride' station.
"The locomotive represents a lot of hard work, fundraising, planning and sometimes just plain
madness or typical British eccentricity as well as the resolve not to be beaten," said Bill Trite."lt's
also a permanent and working memorial to the brave RAF pilots who fought with 257 Squadron
during the Battle of Britain and the rest of the war," he added.
