SR 34053 Sir Keith Park

SR 34053 Sir Keith Park
34053 at Highley in 2016
Built By	SR Brighton Works
Configuration	4-6-2
BR rating	7P6F
Status	Left the SVR
Loco Number	34053
Other Numbers	SR 21C153
History
Built	1947
Designed By	Oliver Bulleid
Type	SR Battle Of Britain Class
1966	Withdrawn by BR
1984	Left Barry
2012	Entered service on SVR
2018	Moved to Swanage Railway
Technical
Length	67ft 4¾"
Weight	86t
Tractive effort	27,720 lb
Pressure	250 lb/sq in
Steam Locomotives

The SR 'West Country' and 'Battle of Britain' classes were designed by Oliver Bulleid, the CME of the Southern Railway (SR). Lighter than their sister locomotives, the Merchant Navy class, they could be used on a wider variety of routes including in the south-west of England and the Kent coast. They were a mixed-traffic design, being used for both passenger and freight trains, and were classified 7P6F by British Railways.

Originally built with innovative features including air-smoothed casings and chain-driven valve gear, many of the locomotives including 34053 were rebuilt by British Railways in the late 1950s.

Contents

34053 Sir Keith Park in service

34053 was built in 1946 at the SR’s Brighton Works and entered service as SR no 21C153. It was originally allocated to Salisbury MPD but also worked from the Stewarts Lane depot, where it hauled prestige services such as the Golden Arrow on many occasions. In 1960 it was transferred to Bournemouth, where it often hauled the Pines Express on the Somerset & Dorset Railway.

34053 was withdrawn from service by BR in October 1966 and towed to Woodham's scrapyard at Barry the following March.

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  34053 at Barry in 1968 (Wikimedia Commons)

34053 in preservation

34053's slide bars

34053 left Barry in 1984. Evidence of her time spent there can still be seen today in the form of the words "Sold Mr Woodham" which are visible on the lower left slide bar. After various owners and lengthy periods in store, restoration was finally completed by Southern Locomotives Limited (SLL) in May 2012 at a cost of £773,000. Having no need of the locomotive at Swanage, agreement was reached for 34053 to come to the SVR, with the agreement carrying a break clause every two years. The locomotive arrived at Bridgnorth on 10 May and during running-in pulled its first passenger train in 47 years on 31 July by assisting a struggling GWR 5700 Class 3650. It entered service on 24 August.

On 31 August 2013 a recommissioning ceremony was held at Kidderminster attended by three aircrew who served during the Battle of Britain and the New Zealand High Commissioner, Sir Lockwood Smith. The return to Kidderminster saw the New Zealand High Commissioner on the footplate. The ceremony welcome pack can be viewed here.

In August 2017 the SVR announced it had mutually agreed with SLL that the option to renew would not be actioned at the end of 2017, with 34053 moving to the Swanage Railway for the rest of the locomotive's certificate. SKP ran her last SVR services on 2 January before winter maintenance works and her move to Swanage on 10 January 2018. 34053 recorded a total of 41,405 miles in preservation on the SVR. The reported total may include mileage on hire to other railways while resident here

34027 moved to the Spa Valley Railway in September 2020, remaining in service there until the end of the locomotive's boiler ticket in May 2022. As of May 2022 SLL intends to carry out a 'fast track' overhaul which will incorporate the replacement of its current boiler by that of its classmate 34010 Sidmouth, with an intended return to service on the Spa Valley Railway in 2023. By coincidence, Sidmouth's boiler spent some years at Bridgnorth MPD where it was used as a 'template' during the overhaul of Taw Valley.

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  Boiler from 34010 Sidmouth at Bridgnorth (2015)

See also

• Former Residents
• SVR-based locomotives visiting other events

Links

• Southern Locomotives Limited website
• SR West Country and Battle of Britain class locomotives on Wikipedia