Earlier last week, some of you may have seen our SECR P Class No. 178 departing away from the railway. We can now officially confirm that 178 will be displayed on loan to The One:One Collection at Margate, alongside the home of Hornby Railways.
This will allow the locomotive to be securely placed on display within the ever-growing collection and will be a representative of our railway within this unique location, providing a fantastic opportunity for this locomotive to on displayed for the public alongside other fantastic static exhibits. The locomotive will return to The Bluebell Railway once this loan period on display has elapsed.
Our locomotive will also be reunited with Kerr Stuart Brazil Class Locomotive No. 926 ‘Leader’ from the Sittingbourne Steam Railway. Both of them have worked together at the Bowaters Paper Mill in Sittingbourne from 1958, with No. 178 running as ‘Pioneer II’ until its purchase by The Bluebell Railway in 1969, providing a reuniting of a unique part of Kent’s diverse railway history at the One: One Collection.
The Bluebell Railway would like to thank the One: One Collection and Little Western for allowing No. 178 to be displayed and for the chance for the loco to be reunited with ‘Leader’ once again.
