Your help needed to get Jurassic back on track

HERITAGE RAILWAY'S APPEAL TO FUND REHAUL OF LOCOMOTIVE

- BY TED O'NEILL

A HERITAGE railway in Skegness has launched an appeal to pay for the upkeep for its steam locomotive.

The Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway is hoping to raise £25,000 for the maintenance of Jurassic.

In 2027, the engine will need to undergo an examination which involves lifting the boiler out of the frames and then replacing the boiler tubes, which take the heat from the fire through the water in the boiler, to produce the steam which powers the locomotive.

It's part of the law applying to all steam locomotives whether they run on privately owned railways, such as the LCLR, or on Network Rail’s main lines.

Jurassic was built by the Bristol company Peckett and Sons Ltd in 1903 for Kaye and Company’s cement works' quarries at Southam in Warwickshire - later the Rugby Portland Cement Company.

In train-spotter parlance, she is an 0-6-0ST - a saddle tank with six driving wheels, weighing seven tons and powered by coal.

The engine’s tall chimney, curvaceous lines and roomy cab for the driver and fireman enamour her to all fortunate enough to travel in a train pulled by her in the Skegness Water Leisure Park.