Preparations are being made to bring the first of the Ivatt Trust owned Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T locomotives to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. The eagerly awaited plan to transfer No. 41298 in its restored condition has changed and instead, unrestored sister engine 41313 will be on it's way to Havenstreet first. 41313 is expected to arrive on the Island later this summer..

41313 in the Ivatt Trust Shed at Quainton Road.

The un-restored 41313 was one of the first locomotives to be saved from the notorious Barry scrap yard in South Wales. It has remained more or less untouched in storage at the Ivatt Trust's shed at Quainton Road in Buckinghamshire.

The locomotive is being moved in order that restoration plans can be drawn up for a return to steam at Havenstreet. It forms part of a long-term agreement between the Ivatt Trust and the Isle of Wight Railway Co. Ltd. that provides for the two Ivatt tanks to work on the Island.

Spare parts for use in the restoration are also being made available and will also be shipped to Havenstreet in due course.

Trustees Roy Miller and Peter Clarke are meticulously restoring their other Ivatt Class 2, 41298. The repaired rear pony truck has been reunited with the frames and preparation for final reassembly is now well advanced.

Although plans to introduce the similar BR Standard Class 2 tanks to the Island in the 1960's never came to fruition, the Westinghouse brake modification drawings have come to light recently and these will be utilised, albeit forty years late!

It is hoped that 41313 will be transferred in August this year!

41313 - Expected to arrive on the Isle of Wight during August 2006.

For more information on locomotive and C&W restoration, operation and maintenance visit Mechanical Times, the On Line newsletter of the IWSR Mechanical Engineering Dept.