Tyseley’s Bloomer may steam in 2019 – and go main line!

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TYSELEY Locomotive Works is aiming to complete its long-running new-build LNWR ‘Bloomer’ 2-2-2 replica in two years’ time.

Not only that, but officials hope to have it haul special trains over the national network.

The new ‘Bloomer’, No. 670, under construction inside Tyseley Locomotive Works, with progress taking place as time and money permit. ROBIN JONES

The project has been boosted by a substantial gift of money which, hopefully, will enable the single driving wheel to be ready in time for this year’s September 16-17 open day.

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Tyseley is planning to launch an appeal for around £150,000 to complete the ‘Bloomer’ in 2019 – the bicentenary of James Watt’s death, when the city of Birmingham will be promoting the whole year as its Year of Innovation.

Completion of the ‘Bloomer’ is now included in Tyseley’s vision for the future, in which, in parallel with the arrival of HS2 at the city’s Curzon Street station in 2026, it aims to create a main line heritage railway company which will preserve the skills of the steam age to enable its collection of express steam locomotive to have a sustainable future and a real purpose working in everyday service as a tourist business (see separate story, Main Line News, pages 56-61).

It is planned to develop Tyseley’s GWR depot to tell the story about steam locomotion, particularly its pivotal role in the development of Birmingham as the ‘Workshop of the World’.

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