Q is for Q 30541

In ‘Loughborough A-Z’ for the entry under letter ‘Q’ I chose to write about Charles Quastel, the head of the Spiritualist movement who came and opened Loughborough’s Spiritualist church on Steeple Row in the 1960s; the Queen’s Anniversary Prize, which our university has won numerous times; Quercus Petraea, because we in Loughborough are surrounded by these oak trees, and the Quorn Hunt, because so many of Loughborough’s gentry were part of this.

So, for today’s Q I contemplated writing about a local family going by the surname Quail, but eventually decided to appeal to the railway enthusiasts, by writing – very briefly – about the Q class locomotive, most especially Q 541, also known as Q 30541.

Apparently, the Q class was designed by Richard Maunsell, and was actually his last design. Q 541 was built in 1939 at Eastleigh for Southern Railway, and began its life at Guildford, but only stayed there for 8 years, before being moved to Three Bridges, which I believe is in Crawley. The railways were nationalised in 1948, following The Transport Act of 1947, and Q 541 was re-numbered to Q 30541.

In 1953 the loco moved briefly to Stewarts Lane in Battersea, before spending the next 10 years in Bournemouth. In 1963 it moved back to Guildford, after a few months in Basingstoke, but its life in it the place of its original home was short-lived as the engine was withdrawn in late 1964, and found itself at the scrapyard in Barry.

I don’t know what happened to it for 8 years, but in 1973 it was bought by a group of enthusiasts, and restoration took place at an engineering factory in Gloucestershire. Once some of the work was completed, the loco moved to the Bluebell line in Sussex, where restoration was continued, and finally completed in 1983. It was re-numbered with its original 541 number, and painted in Southern Railways black as it had been originally.

Sorry if I’m preaching to the converted, but railway locomotives have a kind of MOT test for engines, which once issued last for 10 years, after which the engine has to be fully overhauled, a process which can take some time, and indeed this is what happened next to Q 541. Withdrawn for its 10-year overhaul in 1992, it actually took 22 years until the engine was ready to run again, and in 2015, painted in BR black and numbered 30541, it returned to service on the Blubell Line.

So, what exactly does this have to do with Loughborough, other than the fact that we have the wonderful Great Central Railway in our town? Well, Q 30541 has paid many visits to other railways across the country, like Nene Valley, Severn Valley, and Mid-Hants, and on 4th and 5th February 2017 the engine visited Loughborough! As far as I know it was returned safely, but is now again subject to an overhaul.

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This post is one in a series of posts for the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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