80098

80098 was built at Brighton in December 1954. It was based on the Eastern Region working on the London, Tilbury and Southend Line (LT&S) working commuter services out of London until that route was electrified in 1962.

In July 1962 it came under Western Region ownership when it moved to into storage at Old Oak Common depot and subsequently at Shresbury and later on to Croes Newydd and then Machynlleth. Whilst at Machynlleth it passed to London Midland Region ownership when a number of depots were transferred to the London Midland Region in September 1963.

Motive power depot allocations.

Date Arrived	Depot
December 1954	Plaistow
November 1959	Tilbury
July 1962	Old Oak Common (stored)
August 1962	Shrewsbury
November 1962	Croes Newydd
March 1963	Machynlleth

80098 was withdrawn from service in July 1965 and sold to Woodham Brothers at Barry for scrap. It arrived in the scrapyard in January 1966 and stayed there until November 1984 following the purchase of the locomotive by the 80080 Locomotive Holdings Group in March 1983. Initially the locomotive was thought of as a source of spares for 80080.

It was transported road to the Midland Railway at Butterley in November 1984 but work on stripping down the locomotive did not start until 1991.

Work on the overhaul ceased in 1993 and recommenced again in 1996 when the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust moved into their new premises, the West Shed.

The front fallplates-a common design feature on BR Standard locomotives-were made and fitted in new plate. All the locomotive steps were refurbished or new made. The bunker, which had been in the West Shed for some time, was painted internally and underneath in preparation for lifting on.

In the main workshops of the Midland Railway Trust (MRT) the side tanks underwent a programme of refurbishment for several weeks. The complicated structure on each tank has to be examined carefully for thinning and then remedial work carried out as required.

In early 1997 both tanks and bunker were fitted to the rolling chassis. One of the major items to be sorted out at this stage was the machining of the two leading coupling rods.

The major workshop activity continued on 80098 through 1997. In early March the last item of missing motion was collected from another 80000 class owning group.

In March the boiler arrived on an MRT well wagon and because of experience on working on 80080 some items received better refurbishment, such as the mild steel pegs from which the ashpan is suspended. These were replaced with stainless steel, offering a much longer life. New crinolines, made for some time, were fitted and cladding is applied.

The boiler inspector formally inspected the boiler in June 1997 and gave it a clean bill of health subject to some further NDT work, thus allowing the tubing to proceed in due course.

Work continued apace through autumn 1997 and spring 1998, with almost every working day seeing more parts fitted. Unfortunately, delays were incurred through waiting for materials. The copper pipe deliveries took almost one year to get through. As with 80080, the final pipefitting proved to be a long tedious job.

A new cab roof was made and fitted and the smokebox was fitted to the boiler in late summer 1997.

Cladding of the boiler took place during the autumn and early winter months as did the necessary hydraulic testing. With all work now in new covered accommodation, rapid progress was made and the overhaul completed in 1998.

80098 was steamed for the first time in preservation in August 1998 which was 33 years after it had last steamed under BR ownership. It then spent about the next ten days doing steam trials on the Midland Railway before being repainted and towed to Toton for the open day there at the end of the month.

Since then 80098 has clocked up several thousand miles of faultless running over various regions in the UK and was regularly steamed at the Midland Railway with scheduled trains and used for driver training and experience courses. It also spent periods of time on hire to the Churnet Valley Railway and the East Lancashire Railway.

Having held certification for main line work on Railtrack and Network Rail the locomotive has visited various parts of the country including the London Tilbury and Southend Line and working the Exeter on the summer `Dawlish Donkey’ trains and between Llandudno Junction and Blaneau Ffestiniog.

Whilst working on the line to Blaneau Ffestiniog 80098 was waiting at Llanwrst with the second portion of an eight coach train which had been split with 80079 hauling the first four coaches onwards from Llanwrst. 80079 stalled near Pony Y Pant and 80098 was required to provide assistance before both engines returned to Llanwrst to haul the second portion of the train.

In 2005, as part of the opening of the West Shed extension, HRH The Duke of Gloucester drove 80098 from Butterley Station part of the way to the event. Following the boiler certificate expiring in April 2009, 80098 is currently undergoing a heavy general overhaul in the West Shed workshop.

It was announced in early 2019 that it was planned that the locomotive would operate on the main line following its overhaul. It is unlikely that the overhaul will be completed in the short term and the boiler is known to require a lot of work.