Good News – “The Bloomer” has moved to Wolverton! WSAH had established through consultation in 2000 that the local community would like the Bloomer returned to Wolverton and had further positive feedback through this website

We have at long last got the replica Bloomer moved from Station Square CMK, where it has been gently rusting for the last fifteen years, to Wolverton. Very many thanks to both Alstom and the haulage company MoveRight International for all the help they have given and are still giving us.

The move was very professionally carried out and was totally trouble free. There was a party of Wolverton Works personnel to see the action at CMK Station and a party of Wolverton Residents to see the return to Wolverton Works.

It is currently in Alstom being renovated. The engine & tender will be restored in the same livery LNWR “Blackberry Black” which is correct for that period. The Bloomer will become part of the town trail

This replica Bloomer is called “The Wolvertonian” and numbered 1009 - the last actual Bloomer was numbered 1008. It was commissioned by Milton Keynes Development Corporation and was designed to emphasise and enhance the setting at Station Square when the new CMK station was built

It was built by engineering students with assistance from craftsmen in The Works. The original good intentions behind siting the model at CMK at the time were to contrast the old with the new and to emphasise the continuity of railway history. John Pertwee (in his Dr Who personna) came to perform the opening ceremony but performed another classic bloomer by referring to “Wolverhampton’s” illustrious railway history!

New plans for Station Square made relocation of the Bloomer much more feasible. Milton Keynes Partnership agreed to reinstate the square and repair any damage caused to the site by the removal of the Bloomer.

The Bloomer is owned by Milton Keynes Council and they will retain ownership, but it should now be in Wolverton in perpetuity. Milton Keynes Council required that we do another consultation – some of you will remember we first consulted on where residents would like to see the Bloomer placed way back in 2000 when we first applied for it to come to Wolverton.

The sites considered were

• The Rose Garden, Stratford Road, at The Works entrance and very visible in the Town - this was the popular suggestion back in 2000
• McConnell Drive on the stone revetment which was the platform of The Second Railway Station
• On the railway lines to be left in front of the Royal Train Shed as Part of the Wolverton Park development – but tender would have to be alongside the loco.
• Plus alternative suggestions were also asked for.

Again the Rose Garden site was favoured by most of those who replied.

The picture above is "The Osprey", a Wolverton Bloomer class. The man in the top hat is believed to be Mr Widdowson, the LNWR paymaster. Picture courtesy of the Arthur Grigg Collection at the Living Archive.