No. 8 Hurricane

History

Delivered on 20th July 1927, Hurricane was identical to Typhoon — a powerful three cylinder locomotive. She at once became Captain Howey’s favourite and was fitted with special features such as stainless steel handrails and, in 1934, a high capacity tender modeled on the corridor tenders of the LNER.

She remained three cylinder until the inside motion failed in July 1937. She fell from favour and the Captain had her painted blue and renamed Bluebottle. In this guise she was used to pull the new blue train until the war, during which time she was used extensively by the Army. After the war she retained her blue livery, found favour with the Captain once again and was renamed Hurricane. In 1950 she received smoke deflectors.

In 1957, Hurricane hauled a Royal train carrying HM the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Anne. To commemorate this event, she now carries a plaque on her tender locker.

She carries a chromium-plated whistle similar to those fitted to the streamlined A4 pacifics of the LNER like Mallard. It was a gift of their designer Nigel Gresley to Captain Howey, who had previously presented a Canadian Pacific whistle to the famous engineer.

In May 2008 she travelled all the way to Cumbria, with Typhoon, to spend some time on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway.

The loco is presently out of service for overhaul and part dismantled. The boiler is off to boilersmiths shortly. The rest will wait in line joining the queue behind Winston Churchill and Typhoon.

Technical Details

GN outline two-cylinder (formerly three-cylinder) 4-6-2 Pacific locomotive.
Designed by Henry Greenly.
Built by Davey Paxman & Co., (16044) in 1927
Overall length: 27′ 7″
Weight in working order: 8 ton 10cwt
Driving wheel diameter: 2′ 1.5″
Bogie and trailing wheel diameter: 1′
Cylinders: 5.25″ bore x 8.5″ stroke
Current Livery: Caledonian Blue

9 Winston Churchill