Billed as a Victorian weekend, No. 563 was joined by SECR O1 0-6-0 No. 65 making a rare visit – only its third this century – from its the Bluebell Railway home.
While the T3 was built in 1893 at Nine Elms, No. 65 followed three years later in 1896 as a product of Ashford Works, outshopped originally as an O class by the Southern Eastern Railway and of which it is the only surviving example of a locomotive from that company. In 1908 it received a rebuild into its current O1 guise which many describe as outwardly similar to the SECR C class.
No. 65 was saved for preservation in 1963 by enthusiast Esmond Lewis-Evans, who kept it as the Ashford Steam Centre until that closed, when it was moved into private storage. Following a visit by the owner toSheffield Park and returned to steam in time for the centenary of the SECR in 1999.
