The Churnet Valley Railway has announced that ex-British Railways Standard Class 4 steam locomotive No. 75014 Braveheart will be arriving at the railway later this month and operate services until the steam gala next May.
Braveheart will be on loan to the Churnet Valley Railway at Froghall near Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire courtesy of the Dartmouth Steam Railway and Riverboat Company where it normally operates services between Paignton and Kingswear.
British Railways Standard Class 4 steam locomotives were often seen on the Churnet Valley Line in British Railways days, with No. 75035 working some of the last passenger services from Leek before the line's closure when it was based at being based at Stoke Shed.
No. 75014 was also a former Stoke engine, being transferred there from Bletchley in September 1963 and remaining until 1964, during which time it quite probably worked the Churnet Valley line.
It was withdrawn in December 1966 and sent for scrap to the infamous Woodhams Scrapyard at Barry in South Wales in October 1967 where it spent 14 years exposed to the elements. In 1981 Braveheart became the 121st locomotive to leave the scrapyard when it was purchased as a wreck for possible restoration.
Many years hard work saw it returned to steam in 1994, and in 2000 it was given the name Braveheart after the film of that name which was shot in the West Highlands of Scotland, an area now familiar o many people as the ‘Harry Potter' line after the line's appearances in the films.
Braveheart will be operating scheduled passenger services on the Churnet Valley Railway for the next four months, culminating as a star performer during the steam gala in May.
Full details of the railway's operating dates can be found here
