The Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway has announced that one of its resident locomotives is to leave for storage.
Leader was withdrawn from service in 2022 and is awaiting a 10-year boiler overhaul.
The railway has limited under-cover space for locomotives awaiting overhaul, and to keep the 1905-built locomotive in the best possible condition, the locomotive will soon be leaving to go to be part of the One:One Collection in Margate.
SKLR based locomotive, Triumph, has been waiting since 2008 for an overhaul, and whilst the locomotive is now undergoing an overhaul, the condition of the paintwork and metal is going to add to the cost of overhaul, so a dry space for Leader will help in the future.
An SKLR spokesperson said “We would like to thank ‘Leader's' hosts, the One:One Collection, for arranging for the relocation and safe keeping of the engine. The One:One Collection is a storage facility for rail vehicles that need to be stored under cover, based in the former Hornby factory.
‘Leader' will be reunited with former Bowaters ‘Pioneer the Second' which is now known as the Bluebell Railway's P Class No.178 which will be moving to Margate too.”
One:One Margate seems to becoming a new under cover scrapyard, park them up in the dry and after a few months/years move them on for scrapping like the Merseyrail electric. Still it keeps the road transport companies busy and in profit moving them around the country.
Are have they filled up the smoke box with concrete yet that will stop it from rusting as well