Full steam ahead for locomotive ahead of nation’s biggest rail celebration

The UK’s oldest working boilersmith has steamed ahead with the preparation of a 109-year-old locomotive ahead of Britain’s biggest rail celebration in York this summer.

The city’s National Railway Museum (NRM) called on the talents of Gordon Reed, 78, to ensure the City of Truro – believed to be the first locomotive to reach 100mph – is ready for the Railfest event in June.

Since Mr Reed began volunteering for the museum in 1987, the boilersmith has worked on a vast number of locomotives including Mallard, Flying Scotsman, Oliver Cromwell, Olton Hall and Duchess of Hamilton – all of which will be on display at the nine-day event.

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His most recent work on the City of Truro has included expanding and re-beading small tubes and re-riveting stays in the locomotive’s firebox. Although Mr Reed still plans to be involved with the NRM and will volunteer at the Railfest, the work on the locomotive will be his last major project.

He said: “I have a lifelong passion for railways and have loved every minute of volunteering for the National Railway Museum. I’ve had the honour of working on some of the most famous locomotives in the world and helping with the continuous maintenance of the national collection. It seems fitting that my last major project with the museum will be City of Truro as my first assignment as a volunteer was on this very engine. At the ripe old age of 78, I think it’s about time I stop taking on such physically demanding projects – or at least that’s what my wife thinks.”

Mr Reed’s railway career began aged 16 with an apprenticeship at Darlington’s North Road and Stooperdale Works. During the last 62 years, he has witnessed the end of steam and the privatisation of the railways.

“Although I’m no longer an employee of the railways, I think I will always have an involvement in them. It’s hard to break a habit of a lifetime,” he said.