The project to construct a new Churchward 4700 Class 2-8-0 No. 4709 has moved forward with orders being placed for a pair of vacuum reservoir tanks and the front and rear drawhooks.
The orders were placed after the chassis of 4709 was moved into the workshop at Tyseley in Birmingham. The pair of vacuum reservoir tanks is being purchased from the team at the 2874 Trust, which is restoring for operational service ex Great Western Railway 2-8-0 heavy freight locomotive No. 2874, and were from an order that the 2874 Trust had recently placed. They were available almost immediately and have already been delivered to Tyseley. Purchasing them from the 2874 Trust will provide significant savings to the 4709 Group in costs for their setup, fabrication, and testing.
The two drawhooks required for the front and tender of 4709 were ordered from Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd., based at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway at Toddington, which aims to restore, operate, and overhaul GWR Manor Class No. 7820 Dinmore Manor and GWR 2884 Class heavy freight locomotive No. 3850.
Other work required in connection with the evolution of 4709 is to construct a pony truck, which was scheduled to be completed by the end of last year.
To complete the construction of the 4709’s rolling chassis, the 4709 project needs to raise approximately £30,000. Further information about the project to construct a tenth 4709 Class 2-8-0 is on the 4709 Group’s website at https://www.4709.org.uk/
Responses
Many of us still disagree heavily with the sacrifice of 7027 Thornbury Castle. One would not mind if 7027’s boiler was merely being borrowed to accelerate the construction of 4709, provided that the plan involved the construction in the foreseeable future of a boiler of the correct type for 4709 and thus the return of the borrowed boiler to 7027. If that became the policy of the group behind 4709, then the 4709 project would be really exciting and would receive much more support.