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a company limited by guarantee
Registered charity
no. 1132652
Page updated:
5th June 2010
Slough Estates No.3 was the first all-new locomotive to be bought for use on the Slough Trading Estate railway. Built in 1924, it remained in service until 1973, when the estate railway closed. The two surviving locomotives were moved to preserved railways: No.3 to the Mid Hants Railway; and near-identical sister locomotive No.5 to the Embsay Steam Railway in Yorkshire. No.5 was restored to working order and used for many years, but is currently out-of-use, awaiting a major overhaul. No.3 had a more turbulent time...
At the Mid Hants Railway, after a couple of years, No.3 was dismantled for restoration, but found herself at the back of the queue for rebuilding. [...time passed...] The SWRS were granted custodianship of No.3 and rescued her remains, moving the frames and components to Slough, while the boiler was sent to Billingshurst for major work. Another ten years passed as SWRS members steadily progressed the locomotive's restoration. An enforced move to the Swindon & Cricklade Railway in Wiltshire, and, for the first time, a covered workshop, saw the restoration completed and No.3 returned to steam in 2000.
No.3 has been the main operatiing steam locomotive at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway (S&CR) since then but was taken out of service in January 2009, following problems found at her annual boiler inspection. Over the summer No.3 was given her ten-yearly overhaul at Statfold Barn near Tamworth and returned to steam in December 2009 hauling the S&CR's Santa Special services.
No.3 returned to Blunsdon on the Swindon & Cricklade Railway.
The locomotive overhaul is complete and the painting and lining out are finished. All being well No.3 will be steamed on Saturday 14th for an official handover, returning to Swindon on Monday.
No 3 at Statfold Barn, restoration nearly complete
No.3 moved under its own steam today although only for a short distance. There are one or two small faults found, one being that the safety valves were not lifting as they should but this is not regarded as a problem and can easily be rectified. The new lubricators have been fitted are now working properly. There is still a small problem with a small steam leak from the regulator, again, can be repaired. There is also a small steam leak from the old clack valve.
The painters have been booked to start painting on the 3rd November and this will take around four days. Certain Society members will then go and inspect the locomotive before its return to Swindon.
Having passed the hydraulic test (in August), the next hurdle for the boiler to overcome was a steam test, out of the frames. This test was passed by the boiler inspector, some weeks ago, so it was possible to re-assemble the locomotive. No.3 was steamed with the boiler in the frames on 16th October, and after some adjustments to the regulator all appears to be well. The painter was also on site to see the loco prior to lining out. As can be seen from the photos, No.3 has already been received several coats of paint.
The estimated arrival back at Swindon is mid November but this may yet slip as the date has been put back twice already. Hopefully No.3's return home will not be delayed further as she will be needed for hauling the S&CR Santa Special trains.
John Appleton - Posted 25/10/09
_(resized).jpg "No.3 on a low-loader, leaving Blunsdon bound for Statfold Barn, Tamworth. (Morning of Thursday 23 April 2009)")
No.3 leaving Blunsdon
for Statfold Barn
Boiler: With the boiler lifted from the frames, and the front tubeplate and tubes removed, a thorough inspection was carried out and in general all was found to be in excellent condition. The palm stays which were thought missing were in fact present, but had not been connected to the firebox. This has now been done, along with the fabrication of a new washout housing. The regulator has been completely dismantled and overhauled, and this will hopefully cure the problem of the rather stiff regulator lever. All parts have been re-assembled, and the boiler passed its hydraulic test out of the frames in late August.
Chassis: Inspection of the springs have revealed that several leaves were broken and they will be rebuilt using parts from the spare sent with the engine. The broken spring hanger has been removed and a new one made and fitted. Whilst cleaning the cylinder block, a hole was discovered on top -- below where the smokebox fits -- and as this is on the low-pressure side it has been plugged and a plate welded onto the casting. The slide bars have been re-aligned and all other moving parts will be examined and repaired or adjusted where necessary. The frames have been steam-cleaned and the first layers of undercoat applied.
John Appleton - Posted 23/10/09
No.3 left Blunsdon bound for Statfold Barn, Tamworth, today, on a low loader (see picture).
Inspection of No.3
(Hayes Knoll, 08 Mar 09)
No.3 was visited today at Swindon by Graham Lee from Statfold Barn and he was quite impressed with our loco. The engine was pulled out over the inspection pit and he had a very detailed examination both inside the cab, outside and underneath. He is able to take take the loco right away subject to our agreeing a price obviously and this we wait for.
Our locomotive, a 1924-built Hudswell-Clarke 0-6-0ST, was made ready for its annual boiler inspection by Allianz, who visited Blunsdon on 28th January. Unfortunately the locomotive was declared a failure due to the boiler tubes being pitted and wasted around the smokebox and firebox ends. One option open to us was simply to re-tube and return it to service, but with only another nine months left on its boiler certificate it was agreed that this was a false economy and we have decided to take the locomotive out of service early for a complete overhaul.
Slough Estates Ltd No.3 at
Swindon & Cricklade Railway
Several possible locations to do this work have been approached. The current preference appears to be with Mr G Lee at Statfold Barn in Staffordshire who can turn the work around in a reasonable space of time and return the loco to revenue-earning service. A preliminary inspection of the engine took place on Saturday 7th March when Graham Lee visited the Swindon & Cricklade Railway. No.3 was pulled out over the inspection pit and Mr Lee took a very detailed examination both inside the cab, outside and underneath. He can accept the loco immediately, subject to a price being agreed, after which we can prepare the loco for its move and this we hope will be done on the same low-loader which is due at Swindon with Manchester Ship Canal No.70 from the Avon Valley Railway.
The missing clack valve has now been cast and machined, and is back with the Society - along with the new steam fountain casting - and these will be added to the locomotive during its overhaul. The work to be carried out will be quite expensive and any donations towards this will be gratefully accepted by the Society.
The 7.25" ("narrow gauge") railway has now been sold and the money raised will be used towards the overhaul of No.3. The railway was sold to a scrap metal merchant (!) who luckily will not scrap it but he is due to retire in the next year or two and it will be going to his home in France.
John Appleton - Posted 06/03/09 (amended 20/03/09)
Website: A completely new SWRS website is in preparation (by a proper web designer!), and will hopefully come on-line in the near future. In the mean-time, the existing pages will be undergoing occasional changes to include new information, styling, etc.
Peter Jewell - Posted 06/03/09
Website: The SWRS website is now in the hands of a new 'webmaster', and is gradually going through a metamorphosis (that means 'change' :o) ) into something more up-to-date. Please bear with us as he gets to grips with XML, FTP, and other TLAs...
If you have suggestions for new features for the website, please contact the Webmaster at info@swrs.co.uk.
Peter Jewell - Posted 08/02/09
July 2007
First of all may I apologise for a lack of updates recently. Time restraints and then my computer crashing prevented me from doing a lot with the website recently. However quite a lot has been going on recently. Triangle magazine issue no. 73 is now out with all the usual news and features and this is the first issue of the new editor, Ian White. If you are not a member, this can be purchased for £1 on a Friday night.
Our Engine, Slough Estates No. 3 has been out of service recently while the clack valve was taken off for a pattern to be made. This was for Slough Estates No. 5 which the clack valve on our engine is from, but No. 5's owners wanted it back. Our engine is now however back in service.
Posted 07/07/07