A 'ground-breaking' feat of engineering which transformed steam rail is now on display at a Greater Manchester museum. Visitors to Bury Transport Museum can now get up close to the iconic 60009 Union of South Africa LNER locomotive engine.
Built in 1937, the locomotive is one of only six surviving A4 locomotive engines in the world. Designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, the A4 locomotive stood out from the engines used before it in Britain thanks to its more streamlined design - with a wedge-shaped front more similar to a modern train than the traditional locomotive engine.
The Union of South Africa, which was originally called the Osprey, was taken out of service by British Rail in 1966 before being used on heritage railway lines such as the East Lancashire Railway until October 2021. It has since been retired and is now on display at Bury Transport Museum for the rest of 2022.
Mike Kelly, chairman of East Lancashire Railway which runs the museum, said: "It was ground-breaking at the time, in the 1930s, to change the shape of the locomotive. What you see is a wedge shape at the front, and this was to create a more streamlined look to increase the speed.
"Up until that time, for over 100 years, locomotives looked exactly the same. When this locomotive came out of the workshop, people were just aghast - it was probably space-like.
"It was very, very innovative in its time - almost unheard of to change the shape of a locomotive after being going for over 100 years. You can imagine the whole visual experience, the driving experience and the travelling experience was completely transformed."
The Bury Transport Museum is based at the old Castlecroft Goods Warehouse, near Bury Bolton Street station. The building had been used as a base for East Lancashire Railway but had become inhabitable, before volunteers transformed it into a museum back in 2009.
Since March, volunteers have been busy preparing the museum with a revamp ready to welcome the Union of South Africa. The engine had been in use on the East Coast line, but is now based closer to where designer Sir Gresley began his career with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, including at Horwich.
Mr Kelly added: "When you're on a platform, you don't look at the underbody, you don't see the size of the locomotive and the huge engineering skills to build an iconic locomotive like this. These skills we try to protect and preserve at the East Lancashire Railway."
Get more information about the museum and the East Lancashire Railway on its website.
For more news from where you live subscribe to the free MyBury newsletter
