History of 76084

76084 was outshopped from Horwich Works on 28 March 1957 at a cost of £22,082 and with an expected working life of 40 years. The Modernisation Plan of 1955 curtailed this drastically. 76084 was one of the last batch of new-build locomotives to be built at Horwich and the final locomotive (76099) was completed in November 1957.

Records show that 76084 initially went to Lower Darwen (24D) along with sisters 76080/1/2 and 3. The table below shows how 76084 became something of a guinea pig for two other north west sheds to try out the class eventually returning to Lower Darwen.

All five locomotives were transferred to Sutton Oak, St. Helens, before Lower Darwen closed with 76084 leaving Lower Darwen on 5 March 1965 (see Sightings page). All but one, 76082 which was scrapped in 1966, were subsequently transferred to Springs Branch, Wigan on the closure of Sutton Oak in June 1967.

76084 was the last BR Mogul to be withdrawn from capital stock in Dec 1967.

Shed	Code	Date Arrived
Lower Darwen	24D	28 Mar 1957
Lancaster Green Ayre	24J	4 Oct 1958
Skipton	24G	26 Oct 1958
Lancaster Green Ayre	24J	21 Feb 1959
Lower Darwen	24D	28 Mar 1959
	Later 10H	01 Sept 1963
Swindon Works	Maintained	1 Dec 1963
Sutton Oak	8G	13 Mar 1965
Springs Branch	8F	24 Jun 1967
Withdrawn Week ending		2 Dec 1967
Woodham Brothers Scrapyard, Barry		11 Sept 1968

76084 arrived at Barry on 11 September 1968 in a convoy with 76077, having been split from 76079 and 76080 somewhere along the way. This date is significant because it was the first day a Barry locomotive left for preservation in the form of Midland 4F 43924. An image of 76084 dating from April 1974 shows that the E.L.R (presumably East Lancashire Railway) had reserved her.

Lady In Pink

Mid October 1974 saw five members of the Hallamshire Railway Preservation Society from Sheffield spend a working weekend at Barry. With a view to purchase and to prevent further decay she was painted with red lead primer.

76084 was seen soon afterwards standing proud and alone on an empty siding. Perhaps she was moved to this position to allow the restoration work to proceed. For whatever reason this was an unsuccessful preservation attempt. However, it did ensure 76084 stood out from the crowd for the remaining eight years in the yard. As space became scarce 76084 was pushed down her siding almost to the bufferstops.

Thanks to the power of the internet there are plenty of images of 76084 languishing in South Wales. Woodhams became a valuable source of steam locomotive spare parts and 76084 was stripped of some of her parts too. The story of Woodhams has also become the subject of numerous publications. The story of our locomotive takes a turn for the better in 1982.

Off To Nottinghamshire

It was in 1982 that Phil Rollin concluded his negotiations to buy 76084 for £7,500. And so it was in January 1983 that 76084 left Woodham’s for a new life in South Leverton near Retford, Nottinghamshire. She had spent 14 years and 4 months in South Wales and was the 143rd locomotive to leave the yard. Phil had the good sense to buy 76084’s original tender for an extra £1,500 reasoning that it would soon be bought by another party and be lost to him forever.

Phil placed 76084 in his back garden and gave her a cosmetic makeover. Sadly, Phil died in the early 1990s and the future of the locomotive became uncertain. She was bought from Phil’s daughter and moved to Morpeth. A very informative article with a photograph of Phil appeared in Steam Railway magazine.

A New Company is Born

This is where the story of 76084 Locomotive Company Limited begins and you can read more about the Company in the section ‘About Us’.

After a sixteen year restoration programme 76084 returned to steam May 2013 and to traffic July 2013. The restoration completed with grateful support of our shareholders and, in the final stages North Norfolk Railway (NNR).

The required safety technologies brought 76084 up to mainline standards and  2017 saw 76084 carry out main line charters to Buxton and Whitby.