The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) has announced that a 97-year-old Southern Railway (SR) 2-6-0 light passenger steam locomotive completes the roster of visiting engines for its Cotswold Festival of Steam in May.

The locomotive is SR ‘U’ Class 2-6-0 Mogul No. 31806, and is appearing courtesy of the Swanage Railway and JMB Locomotive Services.

‘U’ Class 31806 will provide Southern Region company for the railway’s resident Southern Railway rebuilt Merchant Navy Class 4-6-2 locomotive No. 35006 ‘Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co.’ for the prestigious event this year. Visitors to last year’s Cotswold Festival of Steam had the opportunity to experience SR-rebuilt West County Class 4-6-2 No. 34028 ‘Eddystone’, which like 31806, appeared thanks to the support of the Swanage Railway.

History

The Southern Railway reached Cheltenham via the former Midland and South Western Junction Railway from Andover via Swindon, Cirencester and Andoversford. At Cheltenham, the SR trains originally used the former Midland station at Cheltenham Spa but latterly Cheltenham St. James, with the locomotives serviced at Cheltenham Malvern Road depot. 31806, which is known to have visited Cheltenham, is one of Richard Maunsell’s attractive and successful light passenger engines introduced in 1928.

The design took many principles from Churchward’s Great Western locomotives, including long-travel valves. The first twenty, including 31806, were rebuilt from Maunsell’s ill-fated ‘River’ (‘K’) Class 2-6-4Ts. The ‘U’ Class’s development and construction was accelerated partly as a result of the Sevenoaks railway accident on 24 August 1927. The fifty members of the class were built (or re-built) at Ashford, Brighton, and Eastleigh.

31806 was re-built at Brighton in 1928 from a 1926 2-6-4T – ‘K’ Class No. A806 ‘River Torridge’. The class gained the nickname ‘U-Boats’ after the submarine warfare of the First World War.

Locomotive A806 entered service in 1928 and by the time of nationalisation in 1948, it had spent time at Nine Elms (9E, circa 21 March 1932), Basingstoke (BAS, 1939), Redhill (RED), and Guildford (GFD) sheds. The ‘U’ Class numbering was rationalised when the final batch of ‘U’s were constructed between 1932 and 1934, which resulted in the ‘A’ prefix being dropped and replaced with a ‘1′.

Records indicate that A806 left Ashford Works paint shop on 1 September 1932, wearing the number 1806. By December 1934, the locomotive had acquired the rather distinctive ‘half height’ smoke deflectors.

In 1945, 1806 underwent minor repairs at Guildford (GFD) and the loco remained there until after nationalisation. It left the paint shop on 1 April 1949 renumbered as 31806 and wearing BR Mixed Traffic Black livery. In 1953, a new 4000-gallon tender was fitted replacing its original as-supplied 3500-gallon tender. 31806s BR motive power depot allocations since 1948 also included; Basingstoke (70D), Faversham (FAV), Nine Elms (70A) and Stewarts Lane (BAT).

As the 1960s approached, it became evident that a number of the class were suffering from cracks in the lightweight frames and worn out cylinders. In September 1957, having covered nearly 836,000 miles, 31806 travelled to Ashford Works where it was fitted with a ‘new front end’ which comprised of a new blast pipe, chimney and BR type 4 cylinder blocks. In addition, its tender was swapped back to the same 3500-gallon type with which it had been supplied in 1928. The locomotive returned to traffic on 1 November 1957. Records indicate that the last modification made during its SR/BR career was the fitment of the Automatic Warning System (AWS). This work was carried out at some point between 1957 and April 1963, when it returned to Guildford (70C).

Its successful career ended when it was withdrawn at Guildford shed on 5 January 1964 after 34 years and seven months of service, by which time it had covered nearly a million miles. Later, in 1964, it was sent to Woodham’s Scrapyard at Barry, South Wales, where it remained for over twelve years.

The locomotive was rescued by John Bunch for preservation at the Mid-Hants Railway in October 1976. Restoration began three years later in 1979 ,and 31806 was returned to service in April 1981.

After ten years of service at the Mid-Hants Railway, its boiler ticket expired, and the locomotive remained out of service pending overhaul. 31806 eventually re-entered traffic on the railway in 2011. In 2014, it moved to its current home at the Swanage Railway, where its boiler was overhauled two years ago and where it and forms part of the railway’s resident fleet. In 2018, it hauled the first mainline passenger train between Yeovil and Weymouth for the first time in fifty years. In 2020, it was the first steam train to run on the Swanage Railway as it prepared to reopen after the Covid-19 lockdown.

The ‘U-Boat’ has proven to be easy to maintain, efficient, and is very popular with the locomotive crews and visitors alike. The engine is the oldest of the four ‘U’ Classes in preservation and the only ‘River’ rebuild still in existence.

Festival

Tickets for the Festival are available on the GWSR website. With up to eight steam locomotives running, it will offer an action-packed timetable of trains, including goods trains and shunting demonstrations. The locomotive and carriage and wagon workshops will open their doors for rare behind-the-scenes visits and other activities will take place at the railway’s stations. The opportunity to travel with the only operational ‘U’ is not to be missed!

The ‘U-Boat’ is the fifth visiting engine to be confirmed. The other four are: Standard Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75014 Braveheart, appearing courtesy of the Dartmouth Steam Railway, Great Western Railway ‘Castle’ Class No. 4079 Pendennis Castle, appearing courtesy of the Great Western Society at Didcot Railway Centre, L&Y ‘Pug’ No. 11243, appearing courtesy of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Trust based on the East Lancashire Railway, and Standard Class 2 2-6-0 No. 78019, appearing courtesy of the Loughborough Standard Locomotive Group and the Great Central Railway.