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A brief history of 44027

article by: Chris Blake
44027 seen in steam at the May 1980 Rainhill 150 “Trials”
44027 seen in steam at the May 1980 Rainhill 150 “Trials”   Click to view larger version

The National Railway Museum's LMS 4F 0-6-0 no. 4027 (British Railways number 44027) came to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in summer 2008. This relocation had been engineered by GWR director Andrew Goodman. The locomotive, previously at the former Midland Railway Centre at Butterley, was partly overhauled. The Loco was in working order until the mid-1980s, during which time it took part in the Rainhill 150 'trials' of May 1980 (the picture, from Wikipedia, shows the engine at Rainhill). The work to fully restore the 4F will be completed at Toddington, Gloucestershire.

No. 44027 was built at Derby in 1924 and it was the first of 575 examples of this useful 0-6-0 class, which was designed by Henry (later Sir Henry) Fowler. It was based on an earlier Midland Railway design. No 44027 was withdrawn by British Railways in 1964 and reserved for the National Collection.

You can watch the original BBC2 programme "The Great Railway Cavalcade | Rocket 150 at Rainhill" featuring 44027 on the BBC website here. 44027 appears at around the 22 minute mark but the whole programme is worth watching.