No. 78018

BRITISH RAILWAYS CLASS 2 2-6-0 78018

Designed by R. A. Riddles as part of the BR standard fleet of a modified design of the Ivatt class 2 like 46521. 78018 is 1 of 65 built and 1 of 4 preserved.

Built in 1953 at Darlington North Road Works at a cost of £14,809. It was one of a class of 65, and entered traffic on 3rd March,1954, at West Auckland Shed (County Durham). This was soon followed by a move to Kirkby Stephen, working trains from Tebay to Barnard Castle on the Stainmore Railway.

78018 became famous by getting stuck in a snow drift during February, 1955, which resulted in the film Snowdrift at Bleath Gill. It was then transferred to Chester Midland in April.

1960 and then in 1962 was sent to Workington. May, 1963 saw it transferred to Willesden, then Nuneaton in September, 1965 and finally Shrewsbury before withdrawal on 12th November, 1966.

78018 then spent 11 years at Barry scrapyard before being preserved at Shackerstone in November, 1978. Little work was carried out whilst at Shackerstone and it was re-sold to the Darlington Railway Preservation Society in 1981.

In 2012 at a point when re-assembly was due, it was decided to bring the locomotive to the GCR as facilities at Darlington were inadequate. The locomotive was finished by loughborough Standard Locomotive Group (LSLG) and was finished in 2016 for the Autumn Steam Gala in October 2016.