SR 34053 Sir Keith Park
Contents
34053 Sir Keith Park in service
The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes were designed by Oliver Bulleid, the CME of the Southern Railway (SR). Lighter in weight than their sister locomotives, the Merchant Navy class, they could be used on a wide 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 rated 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.
34053 was built in 1946 at the SR’s Brighton Works. 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it was transferred to Bournemouth, where it often hauled the Pines Express on the Somerset & Dorset Railway. 34053 was withdrawn from service by BR in October 1966 and towed to Barry scrap yard the following March.
34053 in preservation
34053 left Barry in 1984. After various owners and lengthy periods in store, restoration was finally completed by SLL in May 2012. Having no need of the locomotive at Swanage, agreement was reached for 34053 to come to the SVR for an indefinite period. After some 'fine tuning' on arrival at Bridgnorth, 34053 entered service in August 2012.