Austerity No.49 returns to steam at the Tanfield Railway

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Austerity No.49 returns to steam at the Tanfield Railway


Austerity 0-6-0ST No.49 returned to steam for the first time in 14 months at the Tanfield Railway during the late May bank holiday. Here are some shots of the loco at work along the line and a brief history of it.

49 was built in 1943 by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn in Newcastle for the MOD. It's unclear as to where 49 went immediately after leaving the works. In the winter of 1943 she was put into store at the Melbourne Military Railway in Derbyshire. From here it was moved into WD storage in Essex before returning to the MMR in the Autumn of 1944.


The loco was loaned to the Ministry of Fuel and Power's Swannington opencast disposal point in Leicestershire from May 1946 to Bennerley disposal point in Nottinghamshire in February 1947. It had a relatively short stay there and by April of that year it had moved North to Backworth in Northumberland, which would become the locos home. And, where she eventually became an NCB engine.


49 entered preservation in March 1976 and after a period of storage at Backworth she finally moved to her current home at the Tanfield Railway in June 1980. Whilst Tanfield is her home, she has visited a number of other railways, including Weardale and the National Railway Museum.

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