A Peckett 0-4-0 saddle tank has been delivered to The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) (the Middy) to operate services on the line this summer.

Built in 1915, industrial 0-4-0 Saddle tank steam locomotive No. 1370 May was delivered from its home at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road to the railway’s Brockford headquarters on Tuesday, 31st March.

It took a protracted shunting operation to position May in the right place before filling the boiler with water and lighting its fire.

After testing, the Middy’s drivers and firemen will have a chance to become acquainted with May today, Wednesday, 1st April.

The plan is for May to operate services with another steam engine, Illingworth, which has been at the railway since last Christmas. During the Easter weekend, it is expected that both engines will be in steam,, and a 4-wheel diesel railbus will also be operating services.

The 10-year certification of Illingworth’s boiler is nearing its expiry date; therefore, before it can continue in service, its boiler must be refurbished and recertified.

It will therefore return to its owner after this weekend’s services.

May has had a chequered history, and first worked at an Ordnance Factory in Coventry before moving to GEC at Stafford, where it was named Lady Godiva. After being declared redundant by GEC, it went to Cohens, a scrap dealer and loco merchant, from where it was purchased by Yates Duxbury, based at Heap Bridge at Bury in Lancashire. While at Yates, it was named May, and continued in operational service until 1975, when it was sold for preservation.

Last August, the the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway opened an extension to its running line, since when volunteers have been working hard to build a new station to go with it.

“The arrival of May continues the Middy’s policy of securing a diverse and interesting range of small industrial and shunting steam engines to haul our passenger trains. The Easter weekend it is planned will see both steam locomotives in service together with the recently arrived Great Eastern Railway Chief Engineer’s Salon coach no 14.”

John Durrant, Locomotive Manager, the Mid-Suffolk Railway’s