The BR Standard Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust has issued an update on its overhaul of No. 71000 ‘Duke of Gloucester’.

The Trust has a new support coach for the Duke. The coach is a BFK (Brake First Corridor), numbered M17015. It will have a small kitchen fitted, and first-class compartments where the support crew can stay and rest during tours and visits to heritage railways.

The coach, which previously belonged to Kinlet Hall and Thornbury Castle Locomotive Ltd, will also carry tools needed for the operation and day-to-day mechanical work on the locomotive.

Rampart Engineering at Barrow Hill in Derbyshire has recently fitted retention tanks to the support coach and carried out a body overhaul. The Trust’s volunteers are currently working on the fitments for inside the coach.

Background to the overhaul of the Duke is available to read here.

The Trust previously bought a Mark I support coach for the Duke of Gloucester in 2021.