LMS Jubilee Class No. 5596 Bahamas

LMS Jubilee Class No. 5596 Bahamas is a type of LMS Jubilee Class 4-6-0 steam locomotive.
==History==
No. 5596 "Bahamas" was built in 1935 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow. "She" was named Bahamas in 1936 after the Bahamas, which were then part of the British Empire. After nationalisation in 1948, Bahamas was renumbered by British Railways to 45596 and transferred to Edge Hill, Liverpool.
In 1961, she was unusually fitted with a double blastpipe and chimney, and was returned to traffic and based at Carlisle. She was transferred to Stockport in July 1962, from which she was withdrawn from traffic in July 1966.
==Preservation==
In 1967, "The Bahamas Locomotive Society" was founded with the intention of purchasing Bahamas from British Railways for preservation. After the engine was purchased for preservation it was sent to the Hunslet Engine Company in Leeds for repairs and was repainted into its original LMS Crimson lake livery (however inauthentic as the engine didnt recieve its double chimney until its British Railways days in 1961). 
The engines owners secured a lease on a section of track to Dinting railway station near Glossop in Derbyshire where it established the Dinting Railway Museum around a former Great Central steam shed. This was the engine's first operational base in its preservation years and following 1968 banned steam locomotives on the rail network, the ban was eventually lifted in 1971. Bahamas was one of a small selection of steam locomotives selected to run on the British Rail network to haul enthusiasts railtours. The engine was eventually withdrawn from traffic in 1973 following the expiry of the engines boiler certificate and its first preservation overhaul began with the intention of returning the engine to the mainline. The engine retained it's British Railways lined green livery with the late crest on its tender (this being authentic for the engine with its double chimney). Once the overhaul was completed in 1988, it returned to the mainline hauling railtours alongside visits to heritage railways.
In 1990, the Bahamas Locomotive Society relocated to Ingrow West on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway following the closure of Dinting and in 1994 the engine was withdrawn from the mainline following the expiry of its mainline certificate. The engine was withdrawn at the end of 1997 after finishing off its remaining 3 years running only on heritage railways. From 1997 until 2012 Bahamas spent much of its time being moved between storage and static display at locations such as the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway's museums at Ingrow and Oxenhope aswell as the National Railway Museum in York on display inside the Great Hall and at Railfest.
In January 2011, an appeal "Steam's Last Blast" was launched to raise funds for another overhaul to modern mainline standards. Sufficient funds were raised from supporters and with the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £775,800 alongside the funds raised by supporters, an overhaul could now commence and in July 2013 the engine was moved by road to Tyseley Locomotive Works where work commenced on a major boiler overhaul to modern mainline standard's. Following five years work the engine made its first moves and appearance at the Tyseley at 50 open weekend in Sept 2018 and once work was completed in January 2019 alongside its light and loaded test runs the locomotive returned by rail under its own power to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in February prior to mainline operations starting the same month.
45596 worked "The Bahamas Renaissance" its first railtour for 25 years on 9 February 2019, the tour originated at Oxenhope on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and ran both ways over the Settle and Carlisle line via Ribblehead and Appleby to Carlisle. Owing to popularity with the first tour being a complete sell-out. A second trip "The Bahamas Renaissance II" was run the weekend after and also became a complete sell-out, this tour being over the same route and the same itinerary.
For a brief period In September 2022 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War in 1982, 45596 had a temporary change in identity to become scrapped classmate 45606 Falkland Islands. The engine eventually retained its own identity later in 2022.
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Six-coupled locomotives
Category:4-6-0 steam locomotives
Category:4-6-0 locomotives
Category:Built in 1935
Category:United Kingdom
Category:LMS locomotives
Category:British Rail locomotives
Category:British locomotives
Category:Keighley & Worth Valley Railway