35022 Holland America Line

35022 was built in 1948 at Eastleigh Works. It was not officially named until 1959 when it was taken to Southampton docks where it was officially named Holland America Line by the managing director of the shipping line of that name.

35022 was allocated to Exmouth Junction shed in October 1948 where it would primarily have been used on express trains bound for London Waterloo. It was then moved to Bournemouth shed in June 1954, back to Exmouth Junction in February 1960, Nine Elms in February 1964 and finally Weymouth in August 1964.

This, however does not give a complete picture of 35022’s service life as between March 1952 and January 1954 the locomotive was selected as a representative of the class to be taken to the newly established locomotive testing station at Rugby where it participated in various trails which were aimed at improving the performance and economy of the Merchant Navy design. During this period it also undertook trials on the Settle – Carlisle route, thus taking 35022 to parts of the country which its class mates would never have been expected to visit during their working lives.

35022 had the task of hauling the last Atlantic Coast Express from Waterloo on September 4th 1964.

Subsequent to the above period of testing and evaluation British Railways took the decision to rebuild the entire class to a more conventional layout. This rebuilding programme significantly altered the appearance of the locomotives by removing the air-smoothed casing and substituting three separate sets of valve gear for the original internal chain driven design. Many other detail changes were made, all of which were aimed at easing maintenance or reducing the time that the class spent out of traffic in the workshops. In Holland America Line’s case this rebuilding was undertaken in 1956.

It was withdrawn from service in 1966, having covered 903,542 miles in service, and sold to Woodham Brothers for scrap.

The locomotive was purchased by the Southern Steam Trust, Swanage in 1983 but did not leave Barry until March 1986 after which it was stored at Swanage until May 1995.

It was bought from Woodham’s but the person who went to Woodham’s to buy some locomotives was asked to go for a mid-range engine, instead he arranged a deal for 35022. Before anyone realized what happened it was too late. Then Southern Locomotives Ltd got closely involved at Swanage and a deal was struck, and 35022 ownership was transfered to them. Their original intention being to put the locomotive back in original condition, but time, and expense made them have a rethink. 35022 then took on the purpose of a spare boiler, and set of spare wheels for 35027.

In May 1995 35022 was moved to Sellindge in Kent which is the base for Southern Locomotives Ltd. It was here that restoration of the locomotive started but did not progress far.

35022 spent some time at Locomotive Services Ltd site at Southall which is owned by Jeremy Hosking although the locomotive is owned by the Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust. The Royal Scot Locomotive & General Trust was formed in 2009 to protect for the long term, steam locomotives capable of hauling passenger trains on both the main line and on heritage railways.