32662 (LBSCR 62 Martello, LBSCR 662, SR B662, BR 2662 & SR 32662)

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32662 was built at Brighton in 1875 as 62 Martello and subsequently rebuilt in 1912 to a class A1X locomotive.

It was first based in London for Suburban duties but by 1925 had moved to Fratton shed for use on the Hayling Island branch. It also worked later at Lancing and on the K & S E R. Other sheds where it spent time include New Cross, West Croydon, Lillehampton, Tunbridge Wells and Newhaven.

BR motive power depot allocations.

Date ArrivedDepot
January 1948Fratton
September 1953St Leonards
December 1963Newhaven
September 1955Brighton
May 1963Eastleigh

One of No. 32662’s claims to fame – and perhaps the furthest west the diminutive locomotive ever worked before preservation – was on June 28, 1953 when it worked part of the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society 25th anniversary special with Adams radial tank 30583 (also now preserved) over the Lyme Regis branch in west Dorset.

32662 was withdrawn from service in 1963 and sold to Butlins at Ayr by which time it had recorded 1,505,955 miles in service. It was subsequently bought privately and went to Bressingham Steam Museum in 1971 where it remained for several years in a shed before removal for restoration which commenced in the late 1990s and resulted in 32662 steaming again.

In its Marsh Umber livery numbered 662 with LBSC on her tanks, it has visited several heritage railways in the UK since being returned to traffic. In May 2011 it was repainted in BR black as 32662 with the late BR logo, at Loughborough on the Great Central in readiness to join 32670 and 32678 on the K&ESR for the Last Train Commemoration that took place in 2011.

It is now at the Bressingham Steam Museum where following overhaul and passing its steaming tests in July 2016 it will be used on the museum’s quarter-mile demonstration line. It is now in Southern Railway green livery and carries the LBSCR number B662.

Home BaseCurrent StatusOwner
Bressingham Steam MuseumOperationalBressingham Steam Museum Trust
32662 at hayling Island – Date Unknown
32662 at Hayling Island – 1962
32662 being serviced at Havant – Circa 1963 – The line closed in November 1963
32662 at Hayling Island station – Circa 1963 – The line closed in November 1963
32662 at North Hayling on the last day of regular services – November 1963
32662 still in steam in Fratton shed along with
30587, 30926 Repton, 30850 Lord Nelson and
30777 Sir Lamiel  – November 1963
32662 at Eastleigh - June 1964.jpg
32662 at Eastleigh – June 1964
32650, 30102 and 32662 lie in the scrap line at Eastleigh – July 1964
32662 in front of 30102 in Eastleigh Works August 1964
32662 at Bressingham - May 1975.jpg
32662 at Bressingham – May 1975
32662 at Bressingham – 2000
32662 at the Terrier Gathering on the Kent & East Sussex Railway – May 2005
32662 at Kingscote on the Bluebell Railway – November 2006
32662 at Swanage – September 2010
32662 at Bressingham Steam Museum – May 2014
32662 at Tenterden with a train from Rolvenden on the Kent & East Sussex Railway – June 2011
32662 at Bressingham Steam Museum – May 2014
32662 at Bressingham - April 2017.jpg
32662 at Bressingham Steam Museum-March 2017
32662 at Bressingham Steam Museum – September 2017
32662 at Wansford on the Nene Valley Railway – March 2019

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