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New Great Western 4-6-0 Steams in United Kingdom

New-build 6880 Betton Grange made her public debut at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway last month. Photo Courtesy of Betton Grange Society.

New Great Western 4-6-0 Steams in United Kingdom

By Justin Franz 

The summer of 2024 is turning into a big year for steam — on both sides of the Atlantic.

While here in North America, fans are enjoying a continent-touring Hudson and a Big Boy working by itself on the main line for the first time in decades, the British are enjoying a brand new 4-6-0, six decades after every member of its class was scrapped. The locomotive in question is Great Western Railway 6880, dubbed the Betton Grange, which made its revenue service debut last month during the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s Cotswold Festival of Steam gala. 

The United Kingdom has long been home to a robust steam preservation movement, with dozens of locomotives restored to service. But the Brits weren’t content to just restore the locomotives that survived after the steam era came to a close in the 1960s. In the 1990s, they set out building locomotives that had been scrapped. The most famous example is London & North Eastern Railway Peppercorn Class A1 4-6-2 60163 Tornado, which was completed in 2008. The success of that effort has since inspired others, including here in the United States where the non-profit T1 Trust is currently building a Pennsylvania Railroad 4-4-4-4. The frame of PRR 5550 was recently completed

The GWR’s Grange Class was built in the 1930s for mixed traffic. As the steam era came to a close in the 1960s, all 80 4-6-0s were taken out of service and scrapped. In 1998, the Betton Grange Society was established to build what it called “the 81st Grange.” After 25 years of work, the group finished the locomotive this spring at the Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham. After some initial tests, and some private runs for members of the group, it began hauling excursions at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway, where it is expected to run until at least June 19. After that the locomotive will visit the West Somerset Railway

For more information about Betton Grange, visit www.6880.co.uk

This article was posted on: June 3, 2024