As Simon has some laptop troubles, it falls on me to give a very exciting update on progress of Merchant Navy class 35006 Peninsular & Oriental SN Co.  Shortly before Christmas, P&O made its first movements under the power of three cylinders since 1964!  This is fantastic news and I am sure that members of 35006 Locomotive Society enjoyed their Christmas all the more as a result!  The following video was recorded by Chris Ardy, who noted that the locomotive moved up and down the siding 15 times on 21st December 2015.

With the exception of a few minor teething troubles, the movement was a success.  Steve Parker reported that “everything went very well, we only did a few adjustments i.e. freeing off the valve rod and gland to one of the injectors and adjusting one of the cylinder relief valves which was blowing off a bit early.”

This means that 35006 is even closer to being returned to service!  Congratulations to all those involved in the restoration.

Many thanks to Pete Mason of the 35006 Locomotive Society for the updates.  Society membership costs £12 per year (at the time or writing) and society members receive an excellent quarterly newsletter, which includes a full and detailed report on the progress of the restoration work.

If you would like more details of the project, please write to:
35006 Locomotive Society
12 Cordon Drive,
Montgomery
Powys. SY15 6RE

Further details can also be found on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway website.

Thanks for reading