The classic Gresley Class A4 Pacific locomotive, Bittern, is now ready to leave Crewe for its journey to Margate by road.
Bittern will arrive at Locomotive Storage Ltd at the former Hornby factory site on June 2, possibly in the early hours according to locomotive enthusiasts, for storage and eventual public display.
Bittern is a sister locomotive to the world steam record holding “Mallard” and will be housed at the newly prepared facility in Margate operated by Locomotive Storage Ltd.
Locomotive Storage operates a storage and maintenance business for classic railway locomotives and heritage rolling stock. The Margate site could become “one of the most significant locomotive museums in the world ,” according to South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay who recently toured the site.
Its main depot facility is in Crewe but the company also bought the former Hornby site at Westwood in February 2017.
The main warehouse has been converted with seven railway tracks laid in the warehouse and access loading docks to facilitate the unloading and loading of locomotives and carriages. It is expected that up to 30 items of rolling stock will eventually be housed there.
Mr Mackinlay (pictured with Locomotive Storage director Frank Martin) visited the site, which will be kept as a venue for ‘resting’ assets which can be brought up to display standard, ahead of Bittern’s arrival.
He said: “The size and scope of what is planned by a new philanthropic investor, Jeremy Hosking, who collects what can only be described as the biggest ‘boys toys’ in the world, left me astounded.
“Over the next few weeks we will have, on our doorstep in Thanet, the start of one of the most significant locomotive museums in the world as part of his collection within some of the warehousing that was once at the heart of the Hornby company’s operations.
“This is going to be a world class museum. Fantastic!”
Bittern weighs 102 tonnes and its tender weighs 30 tonnes unladen (before coal and water). They will travel from Crewe on a convoy of low-loaders.
It will join the Mersey Rail Class 503 Electric Multiple Unit (pictured above) which arrived at the site yesterday (May 30).
Locomotive Storage Limited is working closely with Hornby, whose Visitor Centre continues to occupy part of the Margate site.
Please let me know if you hold a competition to win a visit to see ‘Bittern’ in her new home.
I thought she was being returned to steam not stuffed an mounted it was only a few years ago she did 90MPH
Will bitern steam again you cannot let her sit there like the city of Birmingham
I heartily agree. Bittern belongs on the mainline pulling passenger stock. Lets hope this “rest” is only temporary before somebody (NRM?)comes up with the wherewithal to get her running again, as Sir Nigel Gresley intended.
I think this is a brilliant idea. There are a lot of preserved railway locomotives and other vehicles around and they can’t all run on the main or preserved lines; it all takes great deal of money never mind all the other work involved. Some preserved locos are now running with so many replaced parts that there may one day be very little of the original left. Now is the time to be thinking about conservation, not just preservation. There are many vehicles, some quite rare, that are outside all over the place gradually deteriorating, once they’re gone, they’re gone. This kind of facility is ideal. Some things must be ‘stuffed and mounted’ in order to truly preserve them, like City of Birmingham mentioned earlier
Excellent news. Hope it can be on show to public in the near future. Got to be good news for Thanet.
Surely Bittern isn’t going to just sit there like Mallard at York,if so what a bloody waste,she’s a Gateshead/Heaton loco so surely she should stay in the North East,even back to the NYMR would be better,another example of the South taking hold of everything,as a proud Geordie things like this make me sick !!!
Even having been brought up in Margate/ birchington, I now live in the Newcastle area, but I would rather the bittern returned home to the north east than sit in Margate, although I can still see it when I visit family in Thanet!
God! Some people can manufacture a row about anything! As far as I can recall, the NYMR already has (or at least had) 60007 on its site, so it isn’t exactly devoid of A4s
Steam engines should be running not stuffed in museums. Its partly ideal as a maintenance depot, etc where some of them can be maintained
I think it great that the old Hornby site is being put to this use. Hoorah!
Even having been brought up in Margate/ birchington, I now live in the Newcastle area, but I would rather the bittern returned home to the north east than sit in Margate, although I can still see it when I visit family in Thanet!
Whilst we may lose the spectacle of Bittern heading a rake of heritage carriages, and providing revenue, this is good news for those whose only access to steam heritage is in a museum.