At the end of August, West Country Class Bulleid Pacific No. 34092 City of Wells will visit the Spa Valley Railway for its 25th Anniversary Gala where it will star alongside BR Standard 4MT No. 75069.
City of Wells is now owned by and based at the East Lancashire Railway at Bury. It was constructed at Brighton Works in 1949 and named Wells later that year, then given its current designation of City of Wells in 1950.
The 25th Anniversary Gala takes place from Friday, 26th to Monday 29th, August, and the locomotive will remain at the railway for a further weekend for its “City of Wells Steam Up” on Saturday, 3rd & Sunday, 4th September.
During that weekend a special timetable will be in operation, whilst on Saturday, 3rd September passengers will have the opportunity to dine behind No. 34092 as well.
Initially allocated to Stewarts Lane in London, City of Wells worked out of Victoria to the Kent coast so a visit of the locomotive to the Spa Valley Railway will take it back right onto its former stomping ground.
In November 1964 it was withdrawn from service and sent to Woodham Brothers at Barry for scrap where it arrived in March 1965. It remained there until October 1971 when a group from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway (KWVR) bought it and moved it by road to Ingrow. Following restoration work it entered service on the KWVR in 1979. After a period in service, the locomotive was withdrawn for overhaul and subsequently returned to steam in 2014, nowadays the locomotive is based at the East Lancashire Railway, Bury and will shortly be withdrawn for a further overhaul.
The Spa Valley Railway says it is extremely grateful to the East Lancashire Railway for the loan of City of Wells, and also to Community Care Boiler Services who have completed a re-tube on Standard Class 4 2-6-4 tank engine No. 80097, which allowed 34092 to become available for the 25th Anniversary Gala.
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