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LNER 60009 Union of South Africa

909 bytes added, 19:24, 18 October 2022
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|wheels = 4-6-2
|rating = BR: 8P6F
|status = OperationalNon-operational, on static display
|locono = 60009
|othernos = LNER 4488, LNER 9
60009 first arrived on the SVR on 24 February 1989 for a contract heavy overhaul.<ref>SVR News 92</ref> This was completed in just under a year with the locomotive, temporarily renamed 'Osprey', making test trips on the SVR on 17-18 February 1990.<ref>SVR News 95</ref> Following this overhaul, 60009 began to operate main line rail tours throughout the United Kingdom.<ref name=Wikipedia/> She returned to the SVR for minor repairs on 28 December 1991, having accumulated 25,000 miles since the overhaul and reverted to 'Union of South Africa'. During this visit she took part in the 'Mince Pie Specials' and the Spring Steam Gala, and also fitted in a return trip to Scotland before departing on 24 April 1992.<ref>SVR News 101/102</ref>
6009 60009 visited the SVR for further repairs in early 1994, mainly involving a new liner for the middle cylinder.<ref>SVR News 111</ref> These repairs were completed in time for an appearance at the Autumn Steam Gala in September 1994 (at which she was still regarded as a guest), before departing again in October.<ref>SVR News 113/114</ref>
In summer 1995, SVR News described the locomotive for the first time as part of the SVR 'home fleet', referring to a forthcoming return for that year's Autumn Steam Gala.<ref>SVR News 115</ref> Following further mechanical attention, including welding a steel patch insert into the top of the driver's side back plate to repair a deep fracture, the locomotive again returned to the main line duty. An early 1996 rail tour was notable a high speed pass through the Kidderminster main line station with 12 coaches in tow,<ref>SVR News 118</ref> while later that year the locomotive unfortunately set light to a length of the Settle and Carlisle line, requiring a diesel pilot for the rest of the trip and subsequent attention to the spark arrestor.<ref>SVR News 119/120</ref> Further main line work followed, although in December 1996 [[42968]] notably deputised for 60009 on a Crewe to Carlisle Cumbrian Mountain Express.
Late summer 2006 saw 60009 move to Crewe to be fitted with OTMR equipment, after which owner John Cameron expressed the wish to base the locomotive again at Thornton Depot near his Fife home,<ref>SVR News 155</ref> where she would join his other locomotive [[61994 The Great Marquess]].
In 2017 it was announced she that 60009 would be withdrawn from active service at the end of the existing boiler ticket and from 2019 be housed permanently in a new 'Farming and Railway Visiting Centre' at Balbuthie, St Monans with [[61994 The Great Marquess]].<ref>Steam Railway Magazine 27 January 2017</ref> Planning consent was refused and a revised application, excluding the railway aspect, was agreed in November 2019.<ref>[https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/1020904/east-neuk-farm-visitor-centre-given-go-ahead-but-without-the-locomotives-previously-proposed/ 'East Neuk farm visitor centre given go-ahead but without the locomotives previously proposed', The courier.co.uk, 15 November 2019] (Retrieved 7 January 2020)</ref>  After ending main line service, 60009 continued to work at the East Lancashire Railway until being withdrawn in October 2021 with boiler problems, some three months before the planned end of ticket. The locomotive was moved into the Bury Transport Museum as a static exhibit in May 2022. Planning permission for 60009 & 61994 to be housed inside an existing building at Balbuthie was granted in October 2022. 60009 achieved several hundred railtours in preservation, and details of these may be found on dedicated railtour sites such as [http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/trf/trfindex.htm Six Bells Junction] and [http://www.uksteam.info/tours/index.htm UK Steam].
==See also==
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