Rare locomotive that starred on stage in 'The Railway Children' has been transferred to Swanage Railway

Swanage Railway in Dorset is celebrating the transfer of a rare Victorian steam locomotive from the National Railway Museum.

Welcoming the news, Trevor Parsons, the railway company chairman said: “We are delighted, thrilled and very grateful to the National Railway Museum for donating such a rare Victorian steam locomotive to the Swanage Railway.”

Designed by William Adams and built in February, 1893, for hauling express trains on the London and South Western Railway, T3 class 4-4-0 wheel arrangement locomotive No 563 was withdrawn by the Southern Railway at the end of the Second World War in August, 1945, by which time it had run a total of 1.5 million miles.

Luckily it wasn’t scrapped. Instead, the unique locomotive was selected for restoration and display at the centenary celebrations for London’s Waterloo station in a move that thankfully guaranteed its preservation.

Part of the National Railway Museum collection at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon in County Durham, the veteran locomotive was transported by sea to Canada in 2011 where it had a six-month starring role in Toronto’s Roundhouse Park for a theatrical production of ‘The Railway Children’.

Returning across the Atlantic, No 563 again took to the stage when the production – an adaptation by Mike Kenny of E Nesbit’s much-loved novel – was staged at King’s Cross station in London where a thousand-seat pop-up theatre had been built.

“Thanks to the T3’s ownership being transferred to the Swanage Railway, we hope to suitably display the locomotive to the public and illustrate a period of important London and South Western Railway history that has previously not been possible. Our primary aim is No 563’s conservation and preservation,” added Mr Parsons, a Swanage Railway volunteer signalman and train guard.

“The T3 class of steam locomotives – and perhaps No 563 itself – worked trains from London down to Corfe Castle and Swanage; taking expectant families on holiday from the city to the sea. The locomotives were part of the story of Swanage’s development as a popular seaside resort.

“We look forward to hopefully putting the locomotive on suitable display so our visitors can delight in its late-Victorian engineering and see the marvellous machine that hauled trains from the city to the sea for half a century.

“Only twenty of the T3 class of steam locomotive were built for the London and South Western Railway in 1892 and 1893 – and No 563 is the only survivor of the class so it is unique.”

A spokesperson from the National Railway Museum said: “We are delighted to gift the T3 class to the Swanage Railway as part of its growing collection and to have found such a suitable home for this locomotive.

“The Swanage Railway has an outstanding record for preserving and displaying items, something which is paramount to the museum, allowing the public to appreciate the locomotive and attract a new audience to Swanage on a railway steeped in T3 history.”

Carrying three tonnes of coal and 3,300 gallons of water, the first T3 was withdrawn from service by the Southern Railway in 1930 as the late-Victorian locomotives were replaced by more modern designs.

Just three years later, only three of the outside cylinder locomotives remained in use for light duties.

The transport demands of the Second World War delayed the end for No 563 but the coming of peace saw the last of the Victorian class withdrawn.

During 1948, No 563 was restored in the London and South Western Railway Dugald Drummond locomotive livery of green with chocolate edging.

In 1961, the T3 class locomotive was repainted in its original 1893 livery of light green with black and brass beading.

The classic locomotive is due to be transported by road to the Swanage Railway shortly.