926006 Rapido UK OO No. 5820 Big Jim, light grey with Transportation Corps U.S.A. on tender (as preserved)

SKU: RAP926006 Category:

Description

This is a pre order item which cannot be checked out. Please order by telephone or email, Exprected price £234

No.5820 was built by Lima in 1945 and sent straight to Poland as part of the war effort. At the end of hostilities the engine was taken into Polish State Railways stock as TR203-474 and later gained an ALCO boiler from another class member. The engine was mostly based at the Katowice steam shed in Silesia, but was eventually withdrawn and preserved at the Polish Railway Museum in Warsaw. An approach by a member of the Diplomatic Corps in the late 1970s led to the engine being made available for purchase and use on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.

It arrived in November 1977 and entered traffic the following year with its Polish number and livery. The engine briefly ran on the mainline, working to Shipley to turn on the triangle, ready for filming ‘Yanks’ for which the engine was repainted in original livery and number 5820. Following a period out of use from 1992 the engine returned to service in 2014, operating regularly until the expiry of its boiler certificate in 2023. During this period it carried its original number and livery.

Tooling variations-

  • Standard lamp irons

  • Straight strap smokebox door

  • PKP air pump with short smokebox handrail

  • Stepped running boards on right hand side

  • Right hand drive with screw reverser and original pattern firehole door

  • Cab rear shutters fitted

  • Tender with lockers and coal space storage

  • Ejector fitted to right hand side of smokebox

  • Boiler-mounted ejector pipe fitted

  • Alternate piston valve covers fitted

Livery- Light grey (satin) with Transportation Corps U.S.A. on tender.

Manufacturer- Lima Locomotive Works – Ohio – 1945

Repatriation date- November 1977

Current location- Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

Date of model- 2014 to present

Additional information

Weight 0.5 kg