Jubilant Jubilee! Galloping Galatea Back Contact Geoff
The first time I saw this locomotive was 45 years ago, when it was a very sad specimen in Barry scrapyard. The early tentative efforts to resuscitate some of the better locomotives had already begun, and I can clearly recall my thoughts on that day in October 1968. 71000 - gosh, no (outside) cylinders! That’ll never go again. Neither will that King (6023) with its wheel cut. Galatea gradually deteriorated, losing chimney and smokebox door, and like the King it suffered a cut driving wheel. It certainly wasn’t a strong candidate for preservation by the end of its stay. The Barry story needs no retelling. Suffice it to say that 45699 escaped, though its early years in preservation were somewhat
Geoff’s Rail Diaries 5 October 2013
precarious - it was bought as a possible source of a spare boiler for 5690 “Leander”. I’d more-or-less forgotten about the locomotive - until earlier this year, when I read of its test runs as a fully-restored main- line locomotive. One to keep an eye open for... It was one of the listed pool of four from which the loco for today’s “Welsh Border Steam Special” would be drawn. Fingers crossed! I would have gone to see the train anyway, but it was especially good to see and hear this beautifully-restored locomotive galloping along through the Shropshire countryside. Link: LMS Jubilee Class 5699 Galatea on Wikipedia
Galloping Galatea! Galloping Galatea! Galloping Galatea!