Local History

If you were heading down the M4, on Wednesday afternoon, you may have found yourself speeding past a 130-ton steam train.

With a top speed of 30mph, it would have been hard not to overtake it, as it trundled down on to the motorway at junction 13 on its way to Swindon.

Train comes home by road

It's been 30 years since its been in Swindon but on September 3rd The Evening Star, the last steam loco to be built by British Railways, will be coming home… by road.

Since rolling out of Swindon works, on 18 March 1960, The Evening Star has been homed at the National Railway Museum in County Durham. But at the end of last year, in what surely must be one of the biggest swaps of all time, STEAM Museum offered to do swap-sies with their loco the King George V in exchange for the Evening Star.

But how do you go about shifting a 130-ton steam train, 250 miles, when it's not able to move under its own steam?

64 Wheel Convoy

Cue Andrew Goodright from the West Midlands-based haulier, Moveright International.

"It's quite easy actually," says Andrew. "We've got quite a number of trailers that are actually equipped for carrying railway vehicles.

"They have railway lines on them and hydraulic winches and basically we just winch the loco on a ramp from the floor up on to the bed of the trailer. It's that straightforward really."

Loaded up on to an 80-ft long, 24-wheeled low-loader trailer, The Evening Star is being towed by an 18-wheeled tractor unit whilst its tender is being transported separately by a 10-wheeled truck on a 64-ft long, 12-wheeled trailer.

The Route

Travelling at a sedate 30mph, a far cry from the Star's rumoured 90mph top speed, it's expected to take the convoy nearly 9 hours to make the journey from County Durham.

Travelling along the A34, the Evening Star will hit the M4 at Junction 13, head down the motorway before exiting at Junction 16 (Swindon west).

From there it will travel along the A3102 (Great Western Way) to STEAM in Kemble Drive:

"It's a fantastic locomotive," says Andrew. "It was the very last steam locomotive obviously built for British Rail, built in Swindon, and it's a major part of our railway history.

"And on the M4 it will be a head turner that's for sure."

The Evening Star is due to be the centrepiece of the Swindon Railway Festival at the town's Great Western Railway museum, STEAM, on September 13/14, and is due to remain at the museum for two years.

For more information about STEAM, Swindon, click on the link in the right hand column.