A HISTORIC locomotive passed through Whitehaven.
The Tangmere steam engine passed through West Cumbria on its journey from Carlisle to Carnforth on Saturday, June 1.
The train was visible on the outskirts of Whitehaven harbourside as it passed through the area on the West Coast Mainline track.
The train is named after a military airfield in Sussex, meaning that it is a Battle of Britain class locomotive.
The steam engine's construction was completed at the Southern Railway’s Brighton Works in 1947.
Tangmere was never rebuilt and retains most of its original features. It is often referred to as ‘unrebuilt’.
David Smith owns Tangmere, the owner of the Steamtown Railway Museum Ltd depot at Carnforth. The train is usually based at the company's second base, the former Great Western Railway Depot in West London.
Most of the restoration has taken place in recent years at the Ian Riley Engineering Works at Bury, Lancashire where it arrived in 1996.
Unfortunately, due to firebox problems, it was withdrawn from service in 2016. Yet by 2021, it was returned to steam following an overhaul, including fitting the boiler.
It returned to the main line at the end of January 2022 when it hauled the Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express.
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