Swanage Railway steam locomotive restored to former glory

A steam locomotive that was saved from the scrapyard will soon be running again as its £500,000 restoration nears completion.

The 1893 London and South Western Railway T3 class No.563 was donated to Swanage Railway in Dorset in 2017.

Volunteers have spent six years working to restore it and have just launched a £40,000 appeal to fund the final phase.

The locomotive, which has not hauled passenger trains for 75 years, is due to return to service in the autumn.

Swanage Railway said the 81-tonne engine was being restored by specialist contractors at the Flour Mill workshops in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

Nathan Au, a volunteer driver and chairman of the 563 Locomotive Group, said the restored locomotive was due to be moved to Swanage station during the late summer "where it will be reunited with its restored and splendidly-painted coal and water tender".

"There will then follow a period of locomotive testing, commissioning and footplate crew training before No.563 triumphantly hauls its first passenger train since 1948," he said.

The relaunch of the engine coincides with the centenary of the Southern Railway and the 185th anniversary of the formation of the London and South Western Railway.

The Swanage branch line was closed and demolished by British Rail in 1972 but volunteers spent 30 years rebuilding it as a tourist attraction which, in 2019, carried more than 200,000 passengers.

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