30064 (WD 1959, SR 64 & BR 30064)

30064 on the shed at Southampton Docks with replacement diesel - cut down.jpg

30064 was built in 1943 at Vulcan Iron Works in the USA.

It is doubtful that 30064 was ever used for its intended purpose as by 1946 it was stored at Newbury racecourse as war surplus material. It was then bought by the Southern Railway along with fourteen other members of the class at a bargain price as a replacement for the aging B$ class tank engines.

BR motive power depot allocations since 1948.

Date ArrivedDepot
January 1948Southampton Docks
June 1963Eastleigh
August 1966Meldon Quarry
October 1966Eastleigh

30064 ended its days as Eastleigh Works shunter, and on withdrawal in July 1967 was sold to the Southern Loco Preservation Co. Ltd. It was handed over to the new owners in January 1968 at Knowle Junction (Fareham) and put into store at Droxford on the Meon Valley line. Further periods of storage at Fareham and Liss followed.

It was moved to the Bluebell Railway in October 1971.

It was last operational in 1984 and now requires extensive repairs before it can steam again but there appears to be no plans for an overhaul to be undertaken.

In June 2022 the Bluebell Railway revealed that the locomotive had been sold to an undisclosed buyer. The reason given for the sale was that there were no plans to restore the locomotive to steam within the next twenty years whilst following the sale it was hoped that the locomotive would return to the Bluebell Railway to operate on the line in the next five to six years.

Home BaseCurrent StatusOwner
30064 at Southampton Docks – August 1956
30064 on the shed at Southampton Docks with replacement diesel
30064 at a coaling stage in Southampton Docks
30064 at Eastleigh Works open day – August 1963
30064 at Guildford – August 1964
30064 and 30072 in front of two standard tanks which were later scrapped (82029 and 80012). The last locomotives in service were collected Salisbury motive power depot – July 1967
30064 at Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway – 1970s
30064 at Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway 1979
30064 on the Bluebell Railway – April 1982
30064 at Horsted Keynes on the Bluebell Railway – June 1982
30064 at Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway – October 2010
30064 at Horsted Keynes on the Bluebell Railway – May 2017
30064 shortly before it left the Bluebell Railway in May 2022

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