Byfield - No. 2

Byfield No. 2 was built by Bagnall's, of Stafford, in 1942. She was one of seven locomotives ordered under the "home ore scheme" to assist in the war effort in the Ironstone Quarries of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, as directed by the Ministry of Supplies. Byfield, works No WB2655, was sent to work at the Byfield Ironstone Quarries from new.  In 1943 the quarries were temporally closed, and did not re-open until 1946 when  Cherwell, works No. WB2654, was sent to work at the Byfield Ironstone Co. Quarries in Northamptonshire. These open cast quarries were connected to the, 52 mile, ex Stratford on Avon and Midland Junction Railway. Its metals went from Ravenstone Wood Junction on the M.R. Bedford-Northampton branch to Broom Junction on the M.R. Birmingham-Evesham-Bristol line. The eleven miles east of Towcester were used for freight only. The steam engines worked until 1965, and then Cherwell was put on display at a Daventry, Northants, recreation ground and spent over thirty years there.

In September 1944, Byfield was transferred to The Oxfordshire Ironstone Company at Wroxton, near Banbury. She worked there until January 1947, when she was transferred to Loddington Quarries, near Kettering, Northants. The quarries were owned by Staveley minerals, who also owned the Byfield quarries. The engine's name was changed to Loddington No. 2, with the nameplate coming from a metre gauge Sharp Stewart 0-4-0ST, which had been scrapped in 1932.  The "No. 2" was a new plate, cast at Loddington. In July 1963 the quarries were closed and WB2655 was transferred to another Staveley quarry at Cranford, also near Kettering, by April 1966. An Avonside 0-6-0ST AE1919 was also transferred to Cranford when the Byfield quarries were closed in 1965. WB2655 worked at the Cranford quarries until they closed in 1969, and she was sold to Hunt & Co. of Hinkley, Leicestershire in 1970.  Here she gained the name Huntsman and was repainted into blue livery. 

She was rescued from Hinkley by a group of people who restored the engine for use on the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway, where vacuum brakes and steam heating equipment was fitted. The loco was used on short trains on the line, but was withdrawn when the boiler ticket expired in the mid 1990's. Byfield was purchased by the Plym Valley Railway and moved to Marsh Mills in September 2002.

A start has been made with the overhaul of Byfield.  The saddle tank and cab have been removed and are being repaired where necessary.  The corroded smokebox has been removed and a new one is being made.  All the boiler fittings have been removed and the boiler tubes have also been removed.

At least another three locomotives, of the batch of six built in 1942 are preserved , these are :-
Cherwell, which had worked at Byfield, was rescued from the recreation ground in October 2001, and she was moved to the Rushden Historical Transport Society at Rushden Station for restoration back to working order.
Cranford No. 2, which worked at the nearby Cranford Ironstone Quarry, was originally preserved at Carnforth, but then moved to the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway.
Lamport No. 3, works No. 2670. This was originally supplied to the Staveley Coal and Iron Company and worked at the Lamport Quarries. It was preserved in 1969 and eventually moved to the Battlefield Railway in 1979.

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On the transporter, arriving at the P.V.R.	Byfield No. 2, just after being delivered to the Railway	Byfield's cab before removal of fittings for safe storage
Byfield being shunted down our main line	Positioned in the loop opposite the platform	Being stripped down for overhaul, minus cab and tanks.

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