Yesterday was a pretty warm day, but a great day nonetheless! Was my first time visiting the Bluebell Railway this year which had the locomotive, 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair from the SR West Country/Battle of Britain Class in service today. I've grown to become a big fan of the Bulleid Pacifics in recent times, so it was just awesome to get to see and ride behind another one that had just returned from overhaul this year.
34059 was originally built in April 1947 with the original air smooth casing and with the Southern Railway number 21C159, and was also named after Sir Archibald Sinclair, who was a Scottish Politician who led the Liberal Party from 1935 to 1945, and was the Secretary of the State for Air in World War 2 from 1940 to 1945, and he was also present at the naming ceremony for the locomotive in 1947.
34059 was then rebuilt to its current condition in March 1960, and enjoyed a nice service life of 19 years before being withdrawn in May 1966, and was sent to the Woodhams Brothers scrapyard. It was however rescued by the Bluebell Railway in 1979, and initially returned to service in 2009 from a 30 year restoration effort.
However Sir Archibald only lasted 2 years in its first preservation stint when it was withdrawn in 2011 following the discovery of a serious leaking issue with one of the Firebox stays, which meant it was due for another overhaul, which was eventually completed and 34059 returned to service earlier this year, now wearing its shining BR Green livery again and nameplate of the man in which the locomotive was named after when first built.
