THE Middleton Railway will mark the 50th anniversary of the closure of Middleton Broom Colliery with a commemorative Last Coals to Leeds gala, featuring Foxfield Railway-based Hunslet ‘Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 7 Wimblebury (3839/1956).
The former NCB Cannock Wood Colliery loco will be the star attraction over the weekend of September 29-30, at what will be the railway’s main event of the year. It is being sponsored by Leeds City Council under its Love where you live banner, and as such Middleton volunteers plan to not only re-create former Middleton Broom motive power, but also rolling stock, too.
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Resident Hudswell, Clarke 0-6-0ST Slough Estates No. 3 (1544/1924) will lose its Slough Trading Estate identity beneath vinyl transfers to become sister engine No. 3 Nineteen Fifty Four (1872/1954), the last steam locomotive ordered, and indeed used, at Broom Colliery.
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Additionally, the line’s Manning, Wardle ‘L’ class 0-6-0ST Matthew Murray (1601/1903) could be repainted green and renamed Forward after NCB Yorkshire Main classmate No. 1690, if time allows.
Read more in the September issue of The RM – on sale now!