The Leek and Rudyard Railway (LRR) has announced that Lady Jane Gray has joined its fleet of locomotives for the 2022 season.
Lady Jane Gray was built in 1996 at Bressingham by Gray Engineering and is the sister locomotive of Alan Bloom, which is based at Bressingham steam museum. She ran briefly on the Wells and Walsingham railway before being stored at the Royal Victoria Railway in Netley near Southampton in Hampshire. The owners purchased her from the Royal Victoria Railway to run on their own private railway.
After extensive negotiations, Lady Jane Gray arrived at the LRR in December and has spent the past three months undergoing an extensive overhaul. Following a successful steam test on Sunday, 6th March, she is now ready for public service for the first time in nearly 20 years. The railway is extremely grateful to her owners for allowing her to run at Rudyard Lake this year.
Lady Jane Gray will be running throughout the year on selected days which will be advertised in advance. Other locomotives running will be the railway's own fleet of King Arthur, Merlin, Excalibur, and Waverley, as well as the former Isle of Mull Railway engines Frances, Victoria, and Glen Auldyn. The 2022 season starts on Saturday, 12th of March and a full timetable is available at http://www.rlsr.org/timetable.html.
In December, 2015, the Rudyard Lake Steam Railway was bought by and now runs as the Leek and Rutland Railway. It is located at Rudyard Station just outside Leek in the North Staffordshire Peak District, not far from Alton Towers and the borders of Cheshire and Derbyshire.
The railway is 10.25 inch gauge, which is equivalent to half-size Narrow Gauge, and runs alongside Rudyard Lake. The trains run whatever the weather and all coaches are covered. In 2016, the railway incorporated the locomotives and rolling stock of the former Isle of Mull Railway in Scotland into its fleet.
