LSWR ‘T3’ No. 563 takes shape at the Flour Mill workshop in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
The tender continues to progress at the Swanage Railway’s Herston works. ‘M7’ No. 30053 is in the background.
BOTH: NATHAN AU/SRT
THE Swanage Railway Trust’s 563 Locomotive Group has launched an appeal to raise £85,000 to return its LSWR ‘T3’ 4-4-0 No. 563 to steam this year, for the first time since 1948 – enabling the loco to help to celebrate the centenary of the Southern Railway and the 185th anniversary of the London and South Western Railway’s formation.
The group said it started 2023 strongly on the fundraising front, with its last declared target of £100,000 at the end of 2022 already reduced to £70,000, as a result of a legacy and continuing donations.