Author: Eric Ring

752 – further visits to the south in 2025

Saddletank 752 still operating as LMS 11456 will be making two further visits on hire to preserved railways in the South of England.

Firstly to the Mid Hants Railway (the Watercress Line) to operate in their Spring Steam Gala on 25th, 26th and 27th April 2025. Here is will be opertaing with Andy Booth’s ‘A’ class 0-6-0 52322. Full details are available on their website, click here (opens in new window)

Secondly moving across to the West Somerset Railway to operate in their Spring Steam Spectacular on 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th May 2025. The railways’s website page gives full details of the event, click here (opens in new window)

Expected use of our stock on Worth Valley in 2025 updated April 2025

At the time of initial publication (January 2025) there were no definite dates for use of our stock, this is possibly because they are organising various special events as a result of Bradford being the UK City of Culture 2025. SEE BELOW for updated (April 2025) details of known use of our carriages in 2025

20th to 23rd March – The Steam Gala, for operational reasons our carriages were NOT in use during the March 2025 Gala

Early May Bank Holiday weekend 3rd, 4th and 5th May will be operating Vintage Trains using our carriages as well as two other sets of carriages running with 3 vintage steam locos all weekend, full details can be found on the Worth Valley website click here (opens in new window).

There is also to be a 1940s Weekend in May 2025 which may feature our carriages but that is still to be confirmed, and there may be a further vintage event later in the year, this page will be updated as details become available.

July and August would normally feature our carriages in use on Vintage Trains Weekends but it has now been confirmed that they will not be run in 2025 as the much-travelled ‘Railway Children’ theatrical production is to take place between July 16th and September 7th at Oxenhope.
HOWEVER our carriages will be in use, but not on public services, Third Class 6-wheeler 1507 and Club Carriage 47 are to be used in the theatrical production at Oxenhope, running in the shed with no passengers.
Brake Third 1474 is to be used on a special connecting service between Keighley and Oxenhope exclusively for the use of ticket-holders of the production, and will be providing accomodation for people with accessibility needs.
DETAILS OF THE EVENTS can be found on the Worth Valley website click here

You will see that there is no mention of First 6-wheel 279, this is because it has developed serious ‘flats’ on one of the wheelsets which will require the wheelsets to be removed from the carriage for turning down the tyre depth to remove the flats. 279 was the first choice for use in the Railway Children production but the noise made by the flats on the wheels would have interfered with the ambience of the production. The trustees are currently investigating the best way of resolving the problem.

Expected use of our locos at the East Lancashire Railway in 2025 – updated April 2025

We expect that our working locomotives at the East Lancashire Railway (ELR}, Pug 19 as LMS 11243, and Saddletank 752 as LMS 11456 will be in use in events in 2025, so far we know about the following events but the extent of their use may not be known at the time of initial publication (April 2025) – but this post will be updated as information becomes available.

January 18th – Railway 200 ‘Open-House’ Day featured 11243 in ‘Taster Driver Experience’ sessions and work shuttle service between Bury and Summerseat, details were given on the ELR website, there is a further event in September, see below.

14th to 16th March – Legends of Steam, extent of use of our locos were inititially unclear, due to late alterations only Saddletank 752 as LMS 11456 was used and only on Friday 14th March

10th May, 14th June, 9th August, 27th September, 1st November –
Both Saddletank 752 as LMS 11456 and Pug 19 as LMS 11243 will be operating, 11456 with Andy Booth’s ‘A’ Class 52322 on service trains and 11243 on Driver Experience for a supplementary fare at Bury Bolton Street, these running days have been named ‘LANCASHIRE & YORKSHIRE RUNNING DAYS’ and are currently featured on Facebook but not on the ELR website. More details to follow.

24th to 25th May – Vintage Weekend, full details of loco use not yet available but there is a page on the ELR website giving event details click here

12th to 14th September – Railway 200 Celebration Weekend, full details not available but there is a page on the ELR website click here

17th to 19th October – Autumn Steam Gala, we understand that both locos will feature but full details not yet known, for the ELR website page click here

Expected use of our locos at the East Lancashire Railway in 2024

Images of our locos in use can be found on our page Photos – stock in use and videos mainly from Youtube on our page Video Online

At the first time of first writing in November 2023 it was expected there would be two major steam events in 2024 during which our two operational locos were expected to be in use on the East Lancashire Railway. 7th and 8th September 2024 – there is now an additional event as below featuring our two locos at the railway

Autumn Steam Gala 2024 – Friday 11th to Sunday 13th October, our locos were in use, along with visiting locos 9F 92134 and Furness 20, in fact Pug 19 as 11243 stood in for Furness 20 at the start of the second day.

NEW – Heritage Open Days at Bury Transport Museum – Heritage Open days are taking place at many locations between 6th and 15th September 2024, the events at the Bury Transport Museum (near Bury Bolton Street Station took take place on 7th and 8th September featuring a static display of our Saddletank loco 752 currently liveried as 51456 – for this event it was to be liveried as L&Y 752 – , the L&Y ‘Radial Tank’ 1008 on loan from the (National) Railway Museum and the bogie L&Y Directors Saloon recently acquired by the railway. Our Pug loco 19 currently liveried as 11243 was busy with shunting demonstrations in front of the museum. NOTE – 752 is now reliveried as LMS 11456 in advance of its road trip to the Severn Valley Railway on 9th September
To view the East Lancashire Railway web page giving full details click here
More details of the Heritage Open days in England can be found here

Legends of Steam – Friday March 15th to Sunday 17th March, our Saddletank 752 featured in all 3 days liveried as Horwich Works service loco 11305 as we have reported elsewhere on this website, running shuttle services each day.

Images of 752 in use can be found on our page Photos – stock in use
and videos from Youtube on our page Video Online

There may be other public events during 2024 featuring our locos of which details will be published on this web page.