LMS Stanier 8F 48773

LMS Stanier 8F 48773
Stanier 8F 48773 (2025)
Built By	North British Locomotive Co., Glasgow
Configuration	2-8-0
BR rating	8F
Status	Out of service
Loco Number	48773
Other Numbers	8233, 41.109, WD 70307, WD 500, 90733
History
Built	1940
Designed By	William Stanier
Type	Stanier 8F
1969	Arrived on SVR in working order
2001	Passed 100,000 miles in preservation
1969	Last steamed
Technical
Length	60ft 0½"
Weight	72t 2cwt
Tractive effort	32,438 lb
Pressure	225 lb/sq in
Steam Locomotives

48773 is an LMS Stanier Class 8F 2-8-0 heavy freight locomotive. A total of 852 were built between 1935 and 1946 (not all to LMS order). As well as being used on the LMS, the Stanier 8F was initially adopted as the Country's standard WW2 freight locomotive. The War Department had more than 200 built to order and requisitioned more than 50 others, before the cheaper WD Austerity 2-8-0 was introduced in 1943.

Stanier 8Fs saw occasional use on Alveley Colliery coal trains during the last days of the Severn Valley Branch. Classmate 48531, then based at Wolverhampton's Oxley MPD, was photographed working a southbound coal train at Bewdley on 29 June 1966.

Contents

48773 in service

48773 was built by the North British Locomotive Co. in Glasgow as Works No 24607 of 1940. The locomotive was part of a War Department order for use in France, for which it was numbered WD 307. The fall of France took place before the locomotive could be exported, so it was loaned back to the LMS and numbered 8233, spending almost twelve months engaged with heavy wartime traffic from Toton, Holbeck and Westhouses depots.

Following the Soviet Union's entry into the War, the locomotive was requisitioned and by December 1941 had been sent to Iran as Iranian State Railways No 41.109. There it worked on the Trans-Iranian Railway, hauling double-headed 700-ton trains of supplies intended for the Soviet Union up steep gradients in the searing desert heat. On 19 August 1942, the locomotive was famously derailed after colliding with a camel, and later in 1944 was converted to oil-burning.

In 1946 the locomotive was sent to the British Army's Middle East Forces (MEF) in Egypt where, numbered WD 70307, it worked in the Suez Canal zone. For a while the locomotive was loaned to Egyptian State Railways, but by 1948 was in need of a new firebox and scheduled to be scrapped. Fortunately, the locomotive was not scrapped but repatriated to the UK and overhauled at Derby between 1952 and 1954, including conversion back to coal burning. The locomotive then adopted yet another identity as WD 500 at the Longmoor Military Railway.

In 1957 the locomotive was bought by British Railways and at first was misallocated the number 90733 (now carried by another preserved locomotive), following the Austerity 2-8-0s series with which it had been confused, but quickly altered to 48773 at the end of the LMS 2-8-0s. It was initially allocated to Polmadie for six years before the Scottish 8Fs were withdrawn for scrapping in June 1963. Reinstated for a few months as 'on loan to operating stock', it was then consigned to Horwich for scrapping. However another reprieve followed, with further service for a month at Carlisle Kingmoor (12A), 6 months at Stockport Edgeley (9B), 3 months at Buxton (9L), and almost 4 years at Bolton (9K) from September 1964. 48773 finally ended BR service in August 1968 based at Rose Grove. Shortly before withdrawal it participated in several end of steam rail tours including two organised by the Manchester Rail Travel Society in conjunction with the emergent Severn Valley Railway Society, the latter being the 'Farewell to B.R. Steam', the grand finale of steam over the trans-Pennine route via Copy Pit summit.

48773 in preservation

When BR ended normal steam operations in August 1968, the Stanier 8F was the most numerous class of surviving locomotives. 48773 had undergone a 'Heavy Intermediate' repair and boiler overhaul at Crewe Works in 1966, and by July 1968 had covered a modest 36,000 miles and as such was selected as the '8F' in the best 'all round' condition, becoming the subject of a late and urgent appeal by the Stanier 8F Society. It was purchased after working a final railtour, the LCGB 'Farewell to Steam' on 4 August 1968.

Although in working order, 48773 was refused permission by BR to travel south from Rose Grove under power, despite 43106 having been allowed to do the same from Lostock Hall a week earlier. The locomotive was therefore towed by BR Class 44 D7 via Rotherham, Chesterfield and Derby to Tyseley, where it appeared at an open day. From there it was towed to Bewdley by a BR Type 2 diesel, arriving on 30 September 1968. At the time Bewdley was still a working BR station, although the SVR had a presence in the yard. It took several months to get clearance from BR to proceed further, as no 8F had previously worked as far north as Bridgnorth. The SVR initially were concerned too, mostly about the axle load of the tender, with the tender restricted to 4½ tons of coal and 2,500 gallons of water for some time. The locomotive was finally steamed on 28 December before running to Bridgnorth on 4 January 1969, the official arrival date shown in subsequent stock books. Although British Rail had banned all steam locomotives following the end of steam in August 1968, this move was over a section of line from Bewdley to Alveley Sidings then still in BR use for moving coal to Stourport Power Station.

During 1968 48773 was steamed at the Whitsun steam gala and also repainted in LMS livery as 8233. It was one of four locomotives to work passenger services over the weekend of the SVR's official opening in May 1970. On 1 September 1971 8233 was briefly renumbered 48188 for a film concerning the heroism of Driver John Axon G.C. who was killed when the real 48188 ran away at Chapel-en-le-Frith in 1957. Filming involving freight train scenes took place on 1 September 1971.

On 25 March 1972 8233 hauled a 10-coach BR special, and later that year worked equally heavy mid-week school children's specials, a duty shared with 45110 and Gordon. On 23 May the locomotive worked the heaviest load recorded in SVR preservation to date, a 600-ton ballast train.

After recording the highest mileage of the SVR fleet in 1973 (1,380 miles on 44 steaming days), 8233 was temporarily retired for attention to be given to rebushing the motion and turning the pony wheel tyres. A shortage of labour meant a return to service was delayed until spring 1975. Later that year, after running in and a quick repaint, 8233 travelled to Shildon to take part in the Rail 150 celebrations, piloting a short train which also included 43106 and three carriages. It was then temporarily repainted into a foreign livery for filming of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.

During 1976 8233 underwent repairs to the smokebox, steam pipes and springs and a further repaint, recording only 10 miles in traffic for the year. It then returned to regular service, including filming Survivors in 1977, until expiry of the boiler ticket in mid-1980.

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  LMS 8233 at Bridgnorth

Following a five year overhaul, which included "the biggest firebox repairs yet completed", 8233 re-entered service in summer 1985. On 27 September 1986 a service took place at Highley in which 8233 was dedicated as a memorial to British military railway personnel who lost their lives on active service during the Second World War. Attendees were able to view a specially commissioned George Heiron painting of the locomotive in its Iranian State Railways 41.109 identity at work in the Persian desert. The event was marked by a flypast of an Air Atlantique Douglas DC3 and the last working de Havilland Mosquito. The locomotive carries a plaque commemorating the dedication service.

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  The painting on display in The Engine House

8233 was used in filming Rosie and Jim in 1991. During winter 1991-92 it received a repaint into BR Scottish Region livery as 48773. Over the ten-year ticket which finished at the end of 1994, the locomotive averaged around 6,000 miles per year including several rail tours.

A further overhaul saw 48773 re-enter service in spring 1998, with main line activities continuing until 2000. On 25 November 2000 it was involved in a collision with a vehicle on Northwood Crossing, fortunately with no fatalities involved.

In April 2001 48773 became only the third steam locomotive to achieve 100,000 miles in preservation (the first two being the North Yorkshire Moors' locomotives WD 2-10-0 Dame Vera Lynn and 80135). In Summer 1992 48773 was hired out for a period to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, and the following year to the West Somerset Railway.

48773 was last in traffic on 13 January 2008. At the end of the '10-year ticket' it had achieved the greatest mileage in preservation of any of the SVR locos, logging 151,805 miles (including main line excursions) and going through a set of tyres in the process. A full list of main line activities is as follows:

Date	Tour name	Route	Notes	Web	SVR News
11 Aug 1975	Rail 150 Shildon	Kidderminster-Shildon	As LMS 8233, with 43106	8F	37-24
06 Sep 1975	Rail 150 Shildon	York-Kidderminster	Darlington to York some days earlier		37-24
03 Oct 1987	Cotswold Engineer	Honeybourne - Long Marston - Honeybourne	As LMS 8233	SBJ	86-26
03 May 1989	Cumbrian Mountain Express	Carlisle-Shap-Crewe		UKS
21 Sep 1991	Welsh Marches Express	Hereford - Crewe	As LMS 8233. Also had visited Derby, Sheffield, Worcester		101-50
01 Feb 1992	Lancastrian	Shrewsbury - Bolton? - Blackburn	Photo at Manchester with this headboard on 8F web site	SBJ
16 May 1998	Stanier Hind	Bristol-Exeter-Plymouth	Photos on Stanier 8F web site	SBJ	127-3
12 Sep 1998	Central Wales Adventurer II	Newport-Shrewsbury	Photos on Stanier 8F web site	UKS, 8F	132-46
24 Oct 1998	Royal Duchy	Exeter - Plymouth-Newquay	D/H with 45110	UKS	129-12
31 Oct 1998	Stannary Staniers	Ealing Broadway-Penzance	D/H with 45110	UKS
02 Jan 1999	Midlander	Gloucester-Lickey-Tyseley-Kidderminster-Gloucester	Photo at Gloucester on Stanier 8F web site	UKS, 8F	133-40
16 Jan 1999	Barrow Hill Collier	Nottingham-Chesterfield-Nottingham	Photo light engine but with tour headboard	UKS, 8F
10 Apr 1999	Copy Pitfinder	Crewe-Copy Pit-Pontefract-York		UKS	130-56
17 Apr 1999	Cotton Weaver	York-Copy Pit-Crewe	D/H with 45407, photo on Stanier 8F web site	UKS, 8F
24 Apr 1999	Cumbrian Mountain Express	Crewe-Shap-Carlisle	D/H with 45407, photo on Stanier 8F web site	UKS, 8F
05 Sep 1999	Midland Devonian	Gloucester-Stourbridge Jct-Bescot	D/H with 6024	UKS, 8F
01 Apr 2000	Buxton Peaks	Crewe-Manchester Vic-Buxton-Derby		SBJ	133-29
For further information on sources and references, see The Severn Valley Railway on the main line

Following cosmetic restoration, the following September it moved to be displayed in The Engine House awaiting eventual overhaul. The locomotive was one of those which in 2011 had copper sheets stolen, the cost of which the SVR's insurers met in full.

On 20 June 2018 48773 was moved from the Engine House to storage in Kidderminster in readiness for an event to mark the 50th anniversary end of BR steam in August 1968. The locomotive appeared in WD livery as WD 307, complete with mock air brake equipment, for the 2018 'Step Back to the 1940s' event which began on 30 June, before reverting to the BR 48773 livery for the 'Last Days of Steam' event on 4 August 2018. It was again displayed at Kidderminster between 16-24 February 2019, offering further opportunities for footplate visits, before returning to the Engine House in March 2019.

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  48773 cosmetically painted in WD livery, June 2018

• 

  48773 at Kidderminster, 4 August 2018

• 

  48773 at Kidderminster, 5 August 2018

48773 is owned by the Stanier 8F Locomotive Society. In 2018 the Society's archivist reported:

That engine's last ticket started before the SVR installed the reverse osmosis water treatment, as a result both boiler and firebox need major work. All tyres are down to scrapping size. The right hand cylinder is broken, and although the welded repair has so far held up, a new cylinder is highly desirable. The tender tank is badly corroded and a replacement tank is needed, all these above all the normal work needed for an overhaul.

The Society's new website in 2024 stated that to get 48773 back into traffic it is estimated that over £1 million will be required, and the Society have agreed to make a substantial contribution of £200,000.

Railway Royal Engineers' memorial

As a locomotive with a unique military history, it was suggested that 48773 should be dedicated as a Memorial to those military railwaymen of the Corps of Royal Engineers (Transportation) who lost their lives in World War II. In 1986 a Service of Dedication was held at Highley led by the Dean of Hereford, and conducted with full Military Honours.

In 2002 the Society compiled a Roll of Honour and Books of Remembrance commemorating 354 known casualties. The dedication was made by the Chief Royal Engineer, Lieutenant-General Sir Scott Grant KCB, at a Service held at Kidderminster. Since 2008 these have been on display the Engine House.

The names of a further 54 WWII casualties have been identified and an additional Roll of Honour was been produced by the Stanier 8F Locomotive Society. This was unveiled by Brigadier Mike Stephens at a ceremony at the Engine House on 1 October 2011, 25 years after the locomotive’s dedication, together with a Roll of Honour commemorating the Railway Sappers killed in an accident on the Longmoor Military Railway on 13 October 1956 involving sister locomotive WD512. Over 200 ex-servicemen, family members and visitors were present. Visitors can see the Rolls of Honour and information panels describing the history of the Railway Royal Engineers alongside the locomotive.

See also

• Steam Locomotives
• The Severn Valley Railway on the main line
• SVR-based locomotives visiting other events
• Locomotives running under different identities
• Classes of locomotives used on the Severn Valley Branch in commercial service

Links

• Stanier 8F Locomotive Society website
• 8F Society gallery of photographs (includes some main line tours)
• LMS Stanier Class 8F on Wikipedia