A SPECIAL day for Railway Magazine readers (as well as for those of Mortons Media’s other rail titles (Heritage Railway, Rail Express, Railways Illustrated and Steam Days) is to be held at the Statfold Barn Railway near Tamworth on October 7.
The star of the show will be Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Sharp Stewart No. 19B, which was bought by the newly-formed DarjeelingTank LocomotiveTrust at an auction of the late Adrian Shooter’s Beeches Light Railway on June 21.
The trust also acquired the two replica DHR coaches which Adrian had built at the Ffestiniog &Welsh Highland Railway’s Boston LodgeWorks.
As thanks to readers of Mortons magazines for helping the DTLT raise funds to buy the locomotive, which at more than £250,000 makes it possibly the world’s most expensive narrow gauge loco, the trust is offering the chance to see the locomotive in steam at its new home before it is taken out of traffic for a major overhaul. No. 19B is the sole example of the class outside India, and is thought to have the oldest operational boiler in preservation.