NO. 37108 has been moved to the Great Central Railway (North) at Ruddington where, in conjunction with the Heavy Tractor Group (HTG), it will be restored to working order. Work on the ‘37’, which had been preserved at Crewe Heritage Centre since 2010, is expected to begin in the next few months.
The locomotive left Crewe Heritage Centre, where it has recently been repainted into BR green with full yellow ends as No. D6808, on April 24, moving initially to the NEC at Birmingham, where it was displayed at the Model World Live exhibition on April 27/28. Sponsorship for its move was provided by model manufacturer Accurascale.
The renovation of No. 37108 has previously been regarded by its owner as a long-term project, and although work has been carried out at Crewe, it is still in the early stages of restoration and there is still a lot of work to do.
No deadline has been set for its completion, but when it does return to traffic, it will give the combined Great Central Railway a fleet of four Class 37s; No. 37009 is nearing the end of and pioneer No. D6700, which is on loan from the National Railway Museum to the HTG, are based at Loughborough.
