File:South eastern Stirling 0-6-0 No.65.jpg

Class: O1 Wheels: 0-6-0 Built: 1896; Rebuilt 1908 Numbers carried: 65, A65, 1065, 31065 Returned to service: 15 July 2017 Previously operational: 5 August 1999 to 7 July 2009

This photo was taken at Sheffield park on a wet dull September day but in retrospect i think it is good conditions to collect images. The locomotives look more shiny and there are less glare problems to deal with and often some added reflections in puddles - plus there are less people around to get in the way of your shot...

Built at Ashford as an "O" class locomotive, it received a rebuild to class "O1" in 1908, and ran on until finally withdrawn in 1961. In 1963 it was obtained by Mr Lewis-Evans and kept at Ashford Steam Centre until its closure. Thereafter its location was something of a mystery until it was brought to the Bluebell Railway for overhaul, and was returned to steam for the centenary of the amalgamation of the SER and the LCDR in August 1999.

0-6-0s were the commonest locomotives in this country, and the Bluebell now hosts a sequence of three unique survivors of this type, demonstrating their development through the first half of the 20th century, from the O1 through the SECR C-class to Maunsell's Q-class built by the Southern Railway.

The Bluebell's spare O1/H boiler was overhauled at The Flour Mill workshop, and has now been fitted in place of its previous boiler during the recent overhaul, which took place at Sheffield Park.