This locomotive was built by Beyer Peacock & Company.
Since 314 entered service its appearance has changed beyond all recognition. Joseph Beattie’s design had an open footplate and a most unusual design of firebox with two fire holes. In the 1890’s Adams fitted a new boiler and an enclosed cab. The next rebuild introduced a Drummond boiler and removal of the mechanical water pumps, giving an appearance much as when the society acquired the locomotive as 30585.
30585 had covered 1,314,838 miles in its eighty-nine years on the national system before being withdrawn.
30585 was purchased from British Railways in 1963 through the efforts of a handful of Quainton members. An initial approach to British Railways by the Bluebell Railway had come to nothing, and the secretary of the London Railway Preservation Society obtained a quote of £750 from British Railways for purchase of the locomotive. At the time the forerunner to the Quainton Railway Society, the London Railway Preservation Society, was struggling to find funds to purchase a Metropolitan Tank locomotive, so obtaining funds for the purchase of a second locomotive seemed unlikely. However, it was agreed that a separate fund for the purchase of 30585 should be started. By October 1963 the fund stood at £47-4-7, at which British Railways, in the form of their Scrap Sales Department dropped a bombshell, requesting payment of the £750 within one month, otherwise the locomotive would be disposed of elsewhere. An extension of time until the 31st December 1963 was then arranged, and with two loan cheques arriving just before the deadline, Beattie became the property of the London Railway Preservation Society. A cheque was posted off to British Railways a day before the deadline, despite a boiler inspection being awaited.
30585 was towed as freight to the Hockerill Cold Store, Bishops Stortford, in March 1964 for a period of storage, before transfering to Quainton in May 1969. Seven years after ceasing work on the mainline network, 30585 was returned to steam in March 1970, and then worked passenger trains in the down yard at Quainton for a number of years. However, in the 1980s major repairs became necessary and it was withdrawn from service. In 1999 work was started on a major overhaul.
Bodmin’s Alan Moore, very generously decided to sponsor the completion of the restoration of 30585 at the Flour Mill. As part of the restoration agreement, Quainton’s Beattie tank will spend some time operating with 30587 on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway, close to their former Cornish base.
30585 first steaming after restoration took place in October 2006 at Quainton, with an official re-launch by the Hon. Sir William McAlpine. A week later it left for Bodmin, as part of the restoration agreement, where it met the other surviving locomotive 30587. The two locomotives operated together probably for the first time since an enthusiast’s special in 1962.
In January 2007 30585 returned from Bodmin to Quainton, although further return trips to Cornwall will occur over the next few years. The next one was in October 2008 for their Branch Line weekend, staying until the end of that year. 30585 also has spent time visiting other railways, including the Mid Hants Railway for their steam gala in March 2007. Visits in 2010 included Swanage Railway’s Victorian Gala in May 2010, followed by a short trip to the Great Central Railway. Another trip to the Bodmin and Wenford Railway followed in September 2010. In t May 2011 30585 substituted for 30587 which had failed with a leaking tubesheet, at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s Gala.
In May 2012 30585 appeared at Quainton as 30586 which had a somewhat different appearance to her surviving sisters, with larger square wheel splashers. In March 2013 30585 travelled to the Battlefield Line (Market Bosworth Railway) near Leicester for a weeks hire for a Gala weekend.
30585 visited the Epping Ongar Railway for their steam gala in June 2014.
The boiler certificate expired September 2016 and the locomotive now awaits an overhaul.
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| Buckinghamshire Railway Centre | Awaiting overhaul | Quainton Railway Society |
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 