BR Standard Class 8 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester

The British Railways (BR) Standard Class 8 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester is a type of 4-6-2 steam locomotive built at Crewe Works and delivered in April 1954.
No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester, or The Duke as it was popularly known, was based on the BR Britannia Class and designed to replace the accident-damaged rebuilt LMS 'Turbomotive' No. 46202 'Princess Anne'. It incorporated three sets of modified Caprotti valve gear, which was more efficient than Walschaerts or Stephenson valve gear.
When British Rail undertook trials with the locomotive, the locomotive also returned negative feedback. Problems that were reported included poor draughting of the locomotive, this resulted in difficulty adhering to the timetable.
"Duke of Gloucester" had spent its working life at Crewe North Depot and worked on the undemanding North Wales Coat Line between Crewe and Holyhead.
When 71000 Duke of Gloucester entered service, British Rail was starting to circulate its Modernisation Plan, which included the start of the diesel era. This meant that the problems which 71000 had, including the poor steaming and heavy fuel consumption, were not rectified.
This led to the locomotive having a working life of just 8 years. It was withdrawn in 1962 and after six years in storage at Crewe (its birthplace) was sent to Cashmore's scrapyard in Newport, South Wales. Happily it was not immediately scrapped there for it had ended up in the wrong place as pointed out by a postman, so it was sent instead to the Woodham Bros Scrapyard, in Barry, South Wales.
When rescued in the 1970s, restoration to full working order was deemed impossible, but it wasn't until 1990 when the impossible became possible. It returned to steam that year, and during test runs, it seemed that most (if not, all) of the defects it had suffered and encountered in BR service had been cured. The "Duke" was undeniably stronger than it had ever been before and presently handles excursions on the national network, even conquering Shap, Beattock and Ais Gill summits.
Today the engine is undergoing an overhaul at Crewe, which was necessary as its design faults were never really rectified and new problems were already becoming apparent.
== Trivia ==
* It is one of only two surviving British locomotives with Caprotti valve gear (the other being BR Standard Class 5 73129)
== Gallery ==
File:BR Standard Class 8 71000 Duke Of Gloucester.jpg
File:6000-504371000@Tyseley-25-10-15-JD-pic-e1522349193736-768x432.jpg.webp
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