By Owen Hayward
NEW-BUILD H2 Atlantic Beachy Head will make its first trip away from the Bluebell Railway this spring when it visits Didcot Railway Centre for a weekend of celebrations showcasing all that the former GWR depot has to offer.
Entering service in August 2024 following a construction period that officially began in October 2000 (but with parts having been acquired years beforehand), No. 32424 is a reconstruction of the Brighton H2 4-4-2 locomotive that entered service with the Southern Railway in September 1911, and was withdrawn by BR in April 1958. Scrapped a month later, its loss was highly lamented by enthusiasts at the time. Its revival through the construction of a replica, which incorporates the original’s regular handle, came out top of the Heritage Railway Association awards 2025 ceremony’s Steam Locomotive category, as reported in issue 329 of Heritage Railway Magazine.
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Reciprocal arrangements now being a regular occurrence between heritage railways and museums, the visit of Beachy Head to Didcot comes in return for the visit of Great Western Society’s Saint class 4-6- No. 2999 Lady of Legend – itself another new-build locomotive – which ran at the October 17-19, 2025, Giants of Steam gala and is staying in Sussex on loan to the Bluebell for the duration of 2026. Where No. 2999 has spent much of the years since its completion in 2019 on loan to heritage lines across England, this will be Beachy Head’s first outing away from its home since being completed and cements the strong working relationship between the two organisations. Furthermore, part of its journey to Didcot will involve it being towed from an unloading point in DB Cargo’s freight yard over the main line to the railway centre, thus becoming the first of its class to move on the national network since the withdrawal of the original Beachy Head more than 50 years ago.
Its spring visit will see it appear at DRC’s May 23-25 Heritage in Motion weekend, which will see as many of the museum’s working assets as possible out and being used. Although still subject to confirmation, this is expected to include Wickham and pump trolley outings, plus demonstrations with the turntable and traverser on the museum grounds as well as the 50-ton locomotive hoist and wheeldrop in the workshop sheds. Inbetween working passenger services and conducting shunting demonstrations, operating locomotives will make use of the 1931 coal stage each day to top up tenders and bunkers just as GWR locomotives would have in the heyday of steam.
Full details, including locomotive rosters, will be published soon. Meanwhile, DRC has also confirmed that it’s autumn steam gala will take place over the dates of September 11-13.
This article first appeared in Heritage Railway Magazine. To subscribe please visit: https://www.classicmagazines.co.uk/heritage-railway
