Bahamas is back in action!

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Was it really five years ago that a forlorn-looking Bahamas appeared on a low loader in the car park of Heritage Railway publisher Mortons at Horncastle, en route from Ingrow on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway to Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham for its long-awaited overhaul to begin?

On Friday, September 28, when Bahamas Locomotive Society patron Lady Judy McAlpine pulled back the flags to unveil the nameplate of the immaculately outshopped Jubilee No. 45596 outside the Tyseley workshops, after the biggest and most extensive overhaul Bahamas has had for well over half a century, that landmark visit to our headquarters seemed a world away.

Watched by Bahamas Locomotive Society chairman Keith Whitmore, society patron Lady Judy McAlpine unveiled the nameplate of newly overhauled Jubilee No. 45596 Bahamas, resplendent again in BR green, at Tyseley on September 28. ROBIN JONES

That day, Emmerdale ‘womaniser’ Rodney Blackstock, played by actor Patrick Mower, joined a sizeable contingent of townsfolk who turned out to witness the return of a steam locomotive to the Lincolnshire town.

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Five years on, and 21 years after Bahamas last steamed, No. 45596 was again admired by crowds, this time visitors to the hugely successful Tyseley gala event held to mark the 50th anniversary of its first open day in September 1968, just a few weeks after the end of BR main line steam (see special feature, pages 76-79).

Read more and view more images in Issue 247 of HR – on sale now!


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