No. 4555 stands in the back of the shed at Cranmore on August 31 with various equipment attached for examination of the firebox.
PETER NICHOLSON
THE hire of Small Prairie No. 4555 by the East Somerset Railway (ESR) has not got off to an auspicious start, having already been withdrawn for repairs after only a handful of steamings.
The 2-6-2T arrived at Cranmore in March at the start of a two-year hire from the Dartmouth Steam Railway, and arrived almost straight after the completion of an extensive overhaul carried out at Paignton and Tyseley Locomotive Works.
Other than a guest appearance at South Devon Railway gala in March, the loco steamed once at the ESR prior to the Covid-19 lockdown, and again when it worked the railway's reopening trains on July 18.
However, No. 4555 was subsequently withdrawn after cracks in the laps of the firebox along a previous insert repair were discovered. The boiler will have to come out to facilitate further assessment and repair, which will be carried outatTyseley.