7027 ''Thornbury Castle'' was built in August 1949. Its first shed allocation was Plymouth Laira. Its March 1959 shed allocation was

Old Oak Common Old Oak Common is an area of Hammersmith, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London. Together with neighbouring Park Royal, the area is intended to become the UK's largest regeneration scheme, the scale of which has led to ...

. Its last shed allocation was Reading. It was withdrawn in December 1963 and arrived at Woodham Brothers

scrapyard A wrecking yard ( Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard ( Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are bro ...

Barry, South Wales Barry ( cy, Y Barri; ) is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Bar ...

in May 1964. The locomotive was not scrapped and was being restored in 2022.

Preservation

7027 was sold to the then Birmingham Railway Museum and left as the 23rd departure from Barry in August 1972. After being purchased by

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Water ...

's Transport Trust, she was stored outside the

Crewe Heritage Centre Crewe Heritage Centre is a railway museum located in Crewe, England. Managed by the Crewe Heritage Trust, the museum is located between the railway station and the town centre; the site was the location of the 'Old Works' which was demolished i ...

in her Barry Scrapyard condition. Some parts of 7027 are currently in use on elder sibling 5043 ''Earl of Mount Edgcumbe'' and one set of name and number plates for 7027 are mounted on a wall of the main hall of

The Castle School The Castle School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, England, which serves the town and the surrounding villages. Pupils from Bristol also attend the school. Th ...

Thornbury, South Gloucestershire Thornbury is a market town and civil parish in the South Gloucestershire unitary authority area of England, about 12 miles (19 km) north of Bristol. It had a population of 12,063 at the 2011 Census. The population has risen to 14,496 in the 20 ...

. Following the removal of Waterman's railway equipment from the former LNWR site in 2016, she was moved to Peak Rail in April 2016. In July 2016, 7027 was purchased from the Waterman Trust for an undisclosed sum by Jon Jones-Pratt, owner of 4936 Kinlet Hall and the revived

Crosville Motor Services Crosville Motor Services was a bus operator based in the north-west of England and north and mid-Wales. History On 27 October 1906, Crosville Motor Company was formed in Chester by George Crosland Taylor and his French business associate Geo ...

, who plans to restore the engine to full mainline standards. Restoration has started at the Crosville depot in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...

. In February 2018, agreement was reached between the

West Somerset Railway The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which i ...

and Jon Jones-Pratt for ''7027 Thornbury Castle'' to be moved to , to be restored there over a six-year period. In January 2020 no 7027 was once again sold on with plans to be restored to working order. 7027 was sold from Jon Jones-Pratt to a private individual who intends to restore the engine for use at the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

. The engine will however now not be mainline certified on completion. An April 2020 report stated that restoration had started; the project was headed up by the chief mechanical engineer of Great Central Railway, Craig Stinchcombe. Reports and photographs posted in 2022 indicated that restoration was well underway. In August 2022, the future restoration of ''Thornbury Castle'' was called into question when the Great Western Society's ''4709 Group'' bought the locomotive with the intention of donating the boiler to their project to re-create a

GWR 4700 Class The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4700 Class was a class of nine 2-8-0 steam locomotives, designed by George Jackson Churchward. They were introduced in 1919 for heavy mixed-traffic work. Although primarily designed for fast freight, the class ...

. ''Thornbury Castle's'' chassis and other components were to be used to recreate a

GWR Star class The Great Western Railway (GWR) Star Class of 2-2-2 broad gauge steam locomotives were used for passenger train work. Designed by Robert Stephenson, the class was introduced into service between November 1838 and November 1841, and withdrawn be ...

locomotive, and eventually rebuilding it back into ''Thornbury Castle'' when a No. 7 or No. 8 boiler would be available in the future. However, in September of 2022, those plans were cancelled. The GWS also stated that ''Thornbury Castle'' could be rebuilt in its own right if someone buys the spare parts.

References

External links

'Castle' class details, 7000 - 7037
''Great Western Archive'' {{GWR Castle Class 7027 Railway locomotives introduced in 1949 7027 Locomotives saved from Woodham Brothers scrapyard Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain