TCCD 45160 (WD70348, LMS 8274 & TCCD 45160)

Tccd 45160 LMS 8274 at Ruddington on the Great Central Railway, Nottingham - February 2018.jpg

This engine was one of the batch built for the War Department by the North British Locomotive Co Ltd in 1940 and given the number WD70348. It was planned to be used on the Western Front in The Second World War but initially was used on the LMS network for a few weeks in 1941. On the LMS it was allocated number 8274 but never carried it.

A later North British Locomotive Co. example built in June 1942 became LMSR 8274 and eventually British Railways 48274. This second number 8274 survived in service until September 1966 at Stourton depot, Leeds and was cut up two months afterwards.

With the fall of France in 1940, the War Department found itself with a large number of ordered 8Fs it no longer needed. WD-locomotive no. 348 was one of a batch of 25 locomotives exported to Turkey as a kit of parts (and one of only 18 to arrive – the remaining seven were lost at sea when the boat carrying them around the Atlantic sank) and upon arrival at Port Said in Egypt, were transhipped over land to Sivas in Turkey where it was re-erected and renumbered as TCCD 45160.

It was still in service in 1983 at Samsun, Turkey. It was therefore still in ordinary service long after the end of steam on British Railways in August 1968.

In 1989, TCCD 45160 was the subject of a preservation attempt and was successfully repatriated to the UK by the Churchill 8F Locomotive Company, of which Andrew Goodman (Moveright International MD) played a major role. Since its repartiation, the locomotive has undergone an extensive restoration project and was returned to steam in 2010

It worked briefly on the Swanage Railway before being withdrawn for overhaul and moved to Toddington at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway where it was back in steam again in early 2010.

In 2015 the locomotive was operating on the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) Railway as LMS 8274. It is owned by the Churchill 8F Company.

The locomotive failed in September 2017 with firebox cracks around stays on either side of the firebox just above the grate. The boiler certificate is valid for another two and and a half years and the owners planned to consult with the boiler inspector regarding possible repairs.

Work on the locomotive did not commence and the owners sought a new base for the engine.