Former War Department ‘Austerity’ steam locomotive, 2-10-0 No. 90775, The Royal Norfolk Regiment has been given the livery carried by its classmates in British Railways service from 1948 until 1961.

During their BR days, WD 2-10-0s in the range Nos. 90750 to 90775 were allocated to Grangemouth and Motherwell sheds in Scotland, with their number and shed plates painted in a ’Scottish blue’.

That is the same colour it now displays, with the repainting carried out by two M&GN Society volunteers. It also carries a 65F Grangemouth shed plate, which was loaned to the M&GN Society by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society.

The Royal Norfolk Regiment is the largest locomotive owned by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN ) Society, and was named The Royal Norfolk Regiment in September 2017.

Although it is currently owned by the M&GN Society, it was originally owned by the Essex Locomotive Society, which loaned it to the North Norfolk Railway in 2003, where it has been operating ever since.

This will be the last year for some time that it will be in operational service, as its boiler ticket is due to expire on 5th September.

During World War II, 12 Austerity 2-10-0s, including 90775, were supplied to the Ministry of Supply in December 1943 and sent to the Middle East.

In October 1945, British military authorities in Egypt declared that 90775, along with 15 other Austerities in store in the country, were surplus to requirements, and were sent to Greece for use by the Hellenic State Railways. Among their duties were hauling the Istanbul express between Thessalonica and Pithion and the Athens to Yugoslavia International express between Thessalonica and the Greece/Yugoslavia border.

In August 1984, the Greek vessel Empros shipped 90775 back to Ipswich Docks.

90775 The Royal Norfolk Regiment was one of the locomotives that The North Norfolk Railway used as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations of VE Day.

A few years ago, 90775 The Royal Norfolk Regiment hauled the North Norfolkman dining train, where the North Norfolk Railway was hosting a black tie and tiara dinner to raise funds for the establishment of a memorial in Norfolk in memory of the 97 soldiers, mostly from The Royal Norfolk Regiment, who were massacred in 1940 in Le Paradis, northern France.