Restoring "The Green Knight"

We have been working on the restoration of The Green Knight since 2019, alongside other locomotives and ongoing maintenance of our operating fleet.

We recently identified that considerably more work than anticipated is required on the boiler. A full frame rebuild, works to the tender and a TPWS (Train Protection Warning System) upgrade are also required before No. 75029 is fit to run for another decade.

Works to date have been completed by our small team of engineers, apprentices and volunteers and includes:

On the boiler and firebox:

• Removing the boiler from the frames.
• Fabricating a new tube plate.
• Removing the old bottom half side sheets and procuring new material.
• Fabrication of a new throat plate and fitting to the boiler with washout bosses.
• Repair of the foundation ring.

On the wheelsets:

• Removing the driving wheel set and axle boxes.
• Removing the driving wheel set horn blocks, descaling, refitting and aligning.

On the frames and cab:

• Cab side repairs and welding new material in place.
• Repainting the loco frames.

We made the important decision in 2024 to appoint Richard Pearson as Planning and Project Engineer. Richard will head up the small team of apprentices and volunteers tasked with completing the remainder of the restoration. Richard brings with him an exceptional track record of delivering heritage locomotive restorations, having most recently worked as Engineering and Works Manager for the A1 Locomotive Trust. Here he provided engineering management to support the operation of No. 60163 Tornado and lead the team of staff, contractors and volunteers building a new Gresley class P2 steam locomotive No. 2007 Prince of Wales.

We had hoped to be able to complete the boiler overhaul on site at the NYMR but the time, space and specialist skills now required mean this will need to be tendered to an external contractor. We had originally intended to reuse copper from the old boiler alongside new but issues were encountered when welding the old and new materials. Despite extensive materials testing, the old copper is cracking when it is joined to the new, likely due to low arsenic content. Whilst a rebuilt boiler combining old and new materials may have been sufficient to enable the locomotive to run for a couple of years, our aim is to deliver an overhaul of high quality and to ensure that the boiler has longevity. A new copper firebox should last 60 years, a similar length of service to the one which we are replacing. 

The tender has not yet been disassembled to fully assess works required. At this stage, following a visual inspection, we hope that we can undertake a repair job to see the tender through to its next 10-year overhaul, at which point this will require major works. As with all locomotive restorations, we need to prepare ourselves that we may encounter further challenges as the work on the engine and tender progresses.

Why focus on The Green Knight?

We have a number of locomotives that we could restore and we carefully balance a number of factors in making our decisions regarding which ones to focus on. The Green Knight is an important focus for us a number of reasons. It is a really useful general engine, able to economically haul our heaviest normal trains. It is also one of only a handful of our engines that can haul mainline services to Whitby. Without this engine, there is a real risk to us being able to deliver our timetable to Whitby beyond 2028, with engines like LMS No. 5428 Eric Treacy and SR No. 926 Repton being due to start their 10 year overhauls towards the end of this decade.

£200,000 raised will mark a crucial milestone in the restoration. This is just over half the amount we anticipate that the full boiler overhaul will cost. Hitting this milestone will enable the purchase of materials and the boiler to be sent away to an external contractor for works to start. It is very difficult to predict exactly how long this work will take but we anticipate that the boiler overhaul may take up to 4 years from the point it leaves us. If we can raise these vital funds in 2025, this would see a possible return to steam date of 2029, subject to any discoveries that may increase the works required and therefore funds needed.

The restoration involves the replacement of hundreds of parts and even making new parts from scratch following technical engineering drawings to ensure the legend can continue steaming for many decades ahead. Unlike a modern car, there are no manuals and few off the shelf solutions, many components are absolutely unique.

It is our intention to complete the remainder of the works in house at the NYMR. Richard Pearson and a small team will lead the frame rebuild and the re-wheel. Both our apprentices and volunteers will have the opportunity to work on the engine. This is part of our commitment to ensuring that we have a future generation of heritage engineers able to keep our fleet operating for decades ahead and to keeping these vital skills within the North Yorkshire region. Many of our permanent staff in the engineering workshop, including Paul Middleton, have gained their skills and worked their way up after initially joining as apprentices.