Councillor David Jeffels, immediate past chairman of North Yorkshire County Council and Keith Madeley, chairman of the Yorkshire Society, ‘Mr. Yorkshire’, recently renamed a Class 47 Diesel Locomotive following restoration and repainting by volunteers of the Wensleydale Railway.
The locomotive, renamed ‘Haymarket’ has been painted in Network South East livery. The Haymarket name comes from its time working in Scotland before its transfer to the South East.
Keith Madeley, at the tender age of 16 joined British Rail in Bradford and on gaining a promotion went to work in the South East and became Britain’s youngest Station Master at the age of 21, an achievement which Keith is still immensely proud of today. The locomotive is one the many he would have seen and managed when working on the South East Network.
The locomotive, built in 1966 is owned by Harry Needle Railway Company (HNRC) and is on loan to the Wensleydale Railway for use on the Railway’s regular timetable.
Wensleydale Railway general manager, Nigel Park, said:
We began this project with great enthusiasm and after four months of very hard work, the results are impressive. We still have some minor jobs to do to complete the project, but will be ready to use Haymarket on our service from this summer onward. The restoration work has been undertaken by Wensleydale Railway volunteers with the support of local people and businesses.
The Wensleydale Railway is one of the longest heritage railway routes in the country and operates a daily service in the main season between Leeming Bar and Redmire with Wednesday and Saturdays for the Northallerton-Leeming Bar section. The Railway is considering an extension of the line from Redmire to Aysgarth Falls, a return to the centre of Northallerton, and a general upgrade of the line, stations and trains.
