Pugs were given running numbers in the L&YR build sequence, so preserved Pug No. 68 later became LMS number 11218 and BR number 51218. No. 68 had a varied working life ending up shedded at Preston by 1950, followed by spells at Monument Lane, Crewe South, Bank Hall, Widnes, Bristol Barrow Road, Swansea East Dock and Neath, from where she was withdrawn in 1964.
Retubed in 1974 for the Stockton and Darlington parade, No. 68 celebrated her 75th anniversary in steam in1976.
The locomotive is currently displayed in L&Y livery. The boiler tubes have recently been condemned and the Pug will not run again until the boiler has had a 10 year overhaul. This will entail removing the saddletank and cladding, lifting the boiler, removing the blastpipe, ashpan, grate and boiler tubes. No. 68 will be stored intact until 752 is finished.
It is now just coming up to 40 years since 752 came into preservation and its second period of steaming.
752 was built in 1881 at the Manchester works of Beyer Peacock as one of hundreds of 0-6-0 tender locomotives built for the L&Y Railway, who rebuilt it in April 1896 to its current ‘Saddletank’ design like all but 50 of the class – preserved 957 is one of the 50.
752 became 11456 of the LMS Railway at the 1923 Grouping and continued in service on the old L&Y system in the Wigan area until the next major event in its life, withdrawal by the LMS in 1937 and subsequent sale to The Blainscough Colliery Company for their Welch Whittle Colliery near Wigan. The only known photograph of 752 hauling a train in service is at Welch Whittle.
In 1947 becoming the property of the National Coal Board (NCB), 752 continued in service at Chisnall Hall and Standish collieries in the Wigan area until taken into the NCB’s Kirklees works at Wigan. By April 1960 752 was back at work at Parsonage Colliery near Leigh where, apart from a brief spell at Bickershaw Colliery, 752 stayed until falling out of use by 1966 and acquisition from the NCB in 1968.
The L&Y Saddletanks Fund (predecessors of the Trust) negotiated with the NCB for over two years before taking over 752 in 1967 as a donation from the NCB. One interesting facet of the negotiations was that the NCB had serious concerns that the new owners would fail to restore 752 and profit from its scrap value, thereby depriving the NCB of legitimate income, 752 being scheduled for scrapping at the time.
At the time that 752 came into the Fund’s ownership, it was still possible to have a steam locomotive transported by rail, and arrangements were made for delivery via a very circuitous route through Lancashire to the premises of Yates Duxbury in Heap Bridge near Heywood, where restoration started. For the last stage of the journey the train locomotive was the preserved 8F 48773, when it was still in normal service.
With restoration well advanced, the Fund brought 752 by road transporter to Haworth on the Worth Valley Railway, where the first steaming was made.
The Fund were invited to have 752 feature in steam in the cavalcade being planned for the ‘Rocket 150’ in 1980, the 150th anniversary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1980, which was very successful. This was followed by a period at the newly established Liverpool Road Museum in Manchester, 752 subsequently returning to the Worth Valley for it’s Centenary celebration in 1981, continuing in limited service until 1983, when an extensive (and expensive) overhaul was deemed necessary.
In the next five years the Fund had become the L&YRPS and within the following five years the newly-formed L&YR Trust had become a Registered Charity. When the availability of significant funding started to become available from the National Lottery trough their Heritage Lottery Fund, a successful application enabled the funds were available to complete the extensive boiler repairs.
752’s exclusive links with the Counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire (as far as can be established, it has never strayed outside them) have been maintained as the restoration has been completed at the East Lancashire Railway at Bury and Alan McEwan’s works at Cowling as well as at the Worth Valley Railway.
Acquired from industrial service in 1969, No. 19 is currently at the Ribble Steam Railway at Preston, and is undergoing significant exterior attention to bring her back into exhibition condition. Image shows 19 in LMS livery No.11243.
