41298

41298 was built in 1951 at Crewe and its first allocation was to Bricklayer’s Arms shed on the Southern Region in October of that year, and it was mainly used on empty stock, into and out of Victoria with occasional trips on excursion trains to Allhallows. In July 1953 a transfer to the West Country brought work on the branch lines around Barnstaple until August 1963, when 41298 moved to Weymouth for boat-train and local passenger turns. A final move, back to London, took place in October 1966, this time to Nine Elms (Waterloo) where the last few months in BR ownership were spent on empty stock workings as station pilot.

When steam working finished on the Southern Region in July 1967, 41298 was purchased directly from BR by the Ivatt Trust, and was still serviceable. Its first home in preservation was the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire, but when Longmoor closed the locomotive was moved to Quainton. It arrived in December 1970, and started a heavy overhaul.

The Ivatt Trust came to a long-term agreement with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, that will see 41298 and class mate 41313 restored for use on the Isle of Wight. Some forty years after an initial plan to introduce BR Standard Class 2MT locomotives to the island.

The restoration of 41298 was almost complete in the workshops of the IOWSR in 2014. 41298 passed its final in steam boiler examination with some limited running in completed in the Havenstreet yard.

A new Westinghouse air brake system, never fitted to the class in operation, is in the process of being fitted which is necessary for its operation on the IOWSR. The Westinghouse pump fitted to 41298 came appropriately from the final class O2 locomotive W14 Fishbourne.

41298 is based on the IOWSR where it returned to service in March 2016 and covered 6,536 miles before being taken out of service. Examination of the valve and pistons after fragments of the piston valve ring were found to be jamming the cylinder drain cocks. What the inspection revealed was that with spares in short supply in the last months of steam the engine had been fitted with valve rings of an incorrect size.