LMS Stanier 8F 48773
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48773 in service
48773 is an LMS Stanier Class 8F 2-8-0 heavy freight locomotive. As well as being used on the LMS, the Stanier 8F was 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.
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. France fell to Germany before the locomotive could be exported, so it was loaned back to the LMS and numbered 8233.
Following Russia’s entry into the War, the locomotive was requisitioned and 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 Russia up steep gradients in the searing desert heat. On 19th 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. 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 entered service as No 48773. Although withdrawn twice for scrapping, 48773 survived each time, finally ending BR service based at Rose Grove in July 1968 when it participated in the ‘grand finale of steam’ over the trans-Pennine route via Copy Pit summit. It also worked the LCGB ‘Farewell to Steam’ on 4 August 1968.
48773 in preservation
48773 arrived on the SVR in January 1969 in working order direct from BR. During the early years it ran under its LMS number as 8233. Since then it has achieved the greatest mileage in preservation of any of the SVR locos, logging 151,805 miles (including a few main line excursions) and going through a set of tyres in the process.
One of the main line excursions was in 1975 when 48773 traveled to Shildon to take part in the Rail 150 celebrations, piloting a short train which also included 43106 and three carriages.
On 27 September 1986 a service took place at Highley in which 47383 was dedicated as a memorial to British military railway personnel who lost their lives on active service during the Second World War. 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.
48773 is currently (February 2015) on display in The Engine House awaiting overhaul. It is owned by the Stanier 8F Locomotive Society.