Full steam ahead for restoration of Wigan locomotive with launch of £150k boiler appeal

Standard Class 4 2-6-0 no. 76077 was built at Horwich Locomotive Works in 1956 and was based at Sutton Oak, St Helens, before moving to Springs branch, Wigan.

The engine was withdrawn from British Railways’ service in 1967 and sent to Barry scrapyard, before it was privately bought in 1984 for restoration and later dismantled.

It has been owned by Toddington Standard Locomotive Ltd (TSLL) since 2018 and work is being carried out to restore it to its former glory.

The latest step is an appeal to raise the estimated £150,000 needed to overhaul the locomotive’s boiler.

Marketing director Ian Crowder said: “The boiler overhaul project has got off to a good start, with almost £10,000 banked already. It’s important that we raise a ‘fighting fund’ to get the work started sooner rather than later, but we will also launch a component sponsorship scheme to fund specific elements of the overhaul, such as tubes and stays.

“76077 may not be a glamorous locomotive with a fancy name. It spent its working life in handling goods traffic in and around the industrialised North West. But as a modern heritage locomotive it counts among the most useful and easiest to maintain and operate.

“What’s more, the very fast pace of restoration seems to have captured the imagination of so many people: in less than 10 years, we are transforming an incomplete and corroded kit of parts into a living, functioning locomotive.”

While the locomotive is at Locomotive Maintenance Services’ Loughborough workshops, the boiler – no. 1052 built in Darlington in 1952 – is currently at Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s Toddington depot.

Following an inspection, a tender document detailing the work required is being sent to boiler workshops.

While the boiler is generally in good condition, having been overhauled in Eastleigh in 1964 and the engine being withdrawn just three years later, both the parallel front section of the boiler barrel and the front tubeplate will be replaced.

Andrew Meredith, TSLL’s engineering director, said: “While it would be possible to carry out repairs, the cost of replacement isn’t too much greater than the labour and material costs of repair. Fitting these new items will help ensure trouble-free operation over the first 10-year boiler insurance certificate and minimise the amount of work that might otherwise be needed at the next overhaul.”

He continued: “The boiler has suffered over the past 50 years, being stored outside firstly in the salt sea air at Barry scrapyard and then at Toddington. But it is fundamentally sound and I’m confident that after the overhaul, it will give good service for the foreseeable future.”

They have set December 2026 – the locomotive’s 70th anniversary – as the target for seeing the locomotive steamed for the first time since 1967.

Once work has been completed, 76077 will join Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s fleet, although the owners also expect to hire it out to other heritage railways.

Full information and a brochure can be requested from [email protected] or visit standard76077.com/boiler-appeal/