Alex Newcombe loves power. His day job is working on 3,100-bhp Electro-Motive two-stroke V12 diesel-electric freight locomotives that run on the UK railway network. A Chartered Engineer with a degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s in railway systems engineering, since the age of eleven he has also been a heritage railways volunteer.
With his two best friends, he owns six 1950s/1960s era 350-bhp English Electric engined Class 08 diesel-electric shunters, a 1,000-bhp British Rail Class 20/English Electric Type 1 diesel-electric and a1,750-bhp Class 37/English Electric Type 3.
With all that power to play with, you may well wonder why he’s restored a Foden 8L6/24 Blue Circle Cement tanker and a two-axle FG5/14 flatbed. Well, for one thing you can’t take a rail loco home. Playing with trains at weekends meant less time with his family, whereas a truck can be worked on at home. And with trucks, the family can enjoy days out together at rallies and shows, which is where this writer got the tail end of the story that led to this article.
Chatting at last June’s Kelsall event with Malcom Sample, legendary conservator, restorer and fountain of knowledge about all things Foden, Mal answered my question about which he rated best in show of the assembled ranks of Elworth Works’ finest.
Would he choose the Shorrock family’s FG6/14, with four-door S20 cab? The epitome of concourse condition, it featured in the August edition of Heritage Commercials.
“It is faultless, absolutely
