4027 at the Rainhill 150 celebrations

The National Railway Museum's LMS 4F 0-6-0 no. 4027 (British Railways number 44027) is to come to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway later this year, as revealed in the April issue of Railway Magazine. This development has been engineered by GWR director Andrew Goodman. The locomotive, currently at the former Midland Railway Centre at Butterley, is part overhauled - it 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 will be completed partly at Toddington and partly off-site.

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 No 44027 was withdrawn by British Railways in 1964 and reserved for the National Collection.

The GWR has established a good track record with the National Railway Museum.  It currently hosts centenarian Great Western Railway no. 3440 City of Truro (reputedly the first locomotive to exceed 100mph in 1904) and during 2007, LNER V2 2-6-2 no. 4771 stayed for a prolonged visit. In April this year, Southern Railway 4-6-0 no. 850 Lord Nelson (at the time of its construction the most powerful locomotive of its type in Britain) is expected to visit for running-in after boiler repairs at York and will stay until June or July, participating in the Cotswold Festival of Steam.