Forgotten Gems
One of the more sobering aspects of the current domestic heritage railway scene is the large number of historic steam locomotives that can for one or more reasons be regarded as ‘forgotten’ by many visitors to preserved railways and railway museums.
The reasons these locomotives may be regarded as such can vary from being locked away from public view, to having been overlooked for restoration to working order, and in the most extreme of circumstances, being in serious danger of being lost altogether through neglect. Before attempting to detail the more significant examples, it must be emphasised in a world of finite resources it is not always possible to achieve the optimum restoration outcome, and this fact often accounts for the issues discussed in this feature.
Out of sight
From the narrow-gauge point of view, examples not on current public view can be found in the museum collection of the Vale of Rheidol Railway (VoR).
Apart from ‘Quarry Hunslet’ 0-4-0ST Margaret – which regularly finds employment on ‘Driver for a Fiver’ duties’ – and ‘roving ambassador’ Kerr, Stuart 0-4-0ST (W/ No. 3114), the other members of the collection are stored on a site in Ceredigion and in rural Surrey.
As can be seen from the accompanying table, the VoR museum collection includes such British-built classics as 1877 vintage de Winton 0-4-0VBT ; two Falcon-built ‘Lawley’ ‘NG6’ class 4-4-0 tender locomotives; a Bagnall 0-4-4T that once saw
