Great Central Railway Loughborough June 19th 2003

GCR Loughborough USATC 2-8-0 S160 5197 in steam on shed. It was on loan from the Churnet Valley Railway for the summer.

From early 1943 up until D-Day in 1944 many S160s, although not 5197, worked on the LNER and some were shedded at Woodford Halse so would have hauled freight trains through Loughborough. No. 5197 was built in 1945 by Lima & was originally shipped from the US to China in 1945. It was purchased from the Chinese coal industry and imported into the UK in November 1995.

I was still a cleaner when I fired this beast in 2003 but it was an interesting experience. It has excellent injectors & the mechanism is very easy. First a slight pull to get the water flowing and then a longer pull for the steam. Picked up first time everytime - none of the messing about with the water valve you tend to get with most of the UK locos.

The firebox is pretty wide & needs a good back but the butterfly firehole doors give you plenty of space to swing - essential for a novice fireman! I never got a chance to prepare/dispose of it but that smokebox door looks very fiddly although I expect the firebox will have a rocking grate.