The B17 Magic

SANDRINGHAMS            

.......73 gleaming green beauties........

Once ruled the rails of East Anglia and from Marylebone through the East Midlands to Sheffield climbing over Woodhead - the roof of England to Manchester,                                                               

Holidaymakers going to Gt. Yarmouth with buckets and spades,

A Cambridge student worrying about their performance in the scholarship exam,

The businessman going up to town or further afield,

North Country travellers making their way to and from the continent via Parkestone Quay,

A ‘Sandringham’ would take them there and back again,

They were part of our landscape.

For the connoisseur there was the magic in the large curvaceous 6'8" driving wheels totally visible beneath the small splashers and off-set by the elegantly curved running plate

And names crafted in shining brass evoked a bygone England - yet still with us.

The fabric of the nation from the monarch's Sandringham and Royal Sovereign through City of London to our heritage of stately homes, glorious regiments and the working man faithfully following his football club be it mighty Arsenal or lowly Darlington

No longer gone forever!

Now with The B17 Steam Locomotive Trust

The gleaming green finish of these locomotives with 6 ft 8 ins diameter driving wheels provided a magnificent spectacle when either stationary, awaiting the ‘right-away’ signal or hurtling through town and country at speed with a fully laden train.

Their elegant lines with shining brass nameplates left an everlasting memory with railway staff, enthusiasts and the general public alike who travelled on those trains or saw them pass-by. However with the rapid demise of steam, all were withdrawn from service before the preservation movement had become established and so none were preserved.

Fulfilling the project aim to construct a new B17 will recreate again those exhilarating sights and sounds of a ‘Sandringham’ hard at work on the mainline at the head of its train and re-introduce something of our past heritage, for greater public benefit in years to come.