Armstrong

**Armstrong** is a small tank locomotive that appeared on the Moorland Steam Railway in 1966. He was an odd tank locomotive since he appeared old-fashioned, underpowered and slow. He claimed he was withdrawn "only last week" the day after he arrived at the MSR's motive power depot at Northampsmith.

## Bio

Armstrong was built at Swindon Works in 1894 for suburban service on the Great Western Railway's (GWR) routes in and around London and some country areas. He was built to a design that dated back to 1868 by Joseph Armstrong, older brother of George Armstrong. Armstrong's service life is largely unknown, mostly because he lies about when he was withdrawn from traffic (to prevent himself being scrapped).

Armstrong mysteriously arrived on the MSR in August, 1966, when the railway was now having the last bullhead rails removed and replaced with flat bottom rails. He was coupled with a GWR Dean bogie composite coach and a GWR AA1 "Toad" brake van, both in GWR livery like him. Armstrong explained that he knew about the railway by a fellow ex-Great Western locomotive who visited the line, when it was still in the hands of British Railways. Proving that he doesn't have a lot of power after stalling on a three-coach train, Armstrong was shunted into a goods shed at Northrop to wait for full documentation about him. Spite gaining all the locomotives on the railway's trust, he still felt that they still had some suspicion that he's been lying to them. In November that year, Armstrong mysteriously vanished from the railway, possibility of him escaping from scrap.

Armstrong was later brought up by Jenny when Earl of Mount Edgcombe visited the MSR in 2014, but appeared to have never met any GWR locomotive with the number '3561' or a locomotive going by the name of "Armstrong" in his service life under the GWR. This lead to the belief that Armstrong was attempting to escape from scrap by Swindon Works since before or around the time of WWI, which Will told them that the Armstrong and Dean "Metros" were starting to be withdrawn at the start of the century. No word or record of Armstrong was ever said since and the GWR tank engine appeared to have faded into history, possibly caught and scrapped in 1966.

## Basis or real locomotive

   Armstrong is based on the real GWR 3561. It was one of many members of the GWR Armstrong 455 class "Metropolitan/Metro" 2-4-0Ts built by Swindon Works between 1868 to 1899 for suburban duties on the Metropolitan network of the GWR (until Brunel Gauge was removed in 1892). The last were built by William Dean from 1878 to 1899. Withdrawal of the class started with the earliest going around 1900 and the last ten (built by Dean) were withdrawn by British Railways in 1949. One (No. 3593) was rebuilt to a 2-4-2T in 1905.

No. 3561 was built by Swindon in 1894 and withdrawn and scrapped in 1949.

## Trivia

Armstrong is inspired by the character 'Jinty' in YouTuber 'TheScotsmanReturns's movie, 'The Little Westerner'. This movie shows Jinty as a "wonderer" and escaping from scrap.

* Armstrong is also inspired by Duck in The Railway Series.

It's unknown how he could be of BR stock if he isn't carrying any BR livery, but displays 'Great Western' on his side tanks. Could he have been withdrawn in the 1930s?

When Earl of Mount Edgcombe arrived for a visit in 2014, he didn't even know about any Armstrong 455 class in service by 1966. This's strong evidence that Armstrong lied about the year he was withdrawn.

Armstrong's model was a kit by Phoenix Precision (from the Dean Sidings kits) for a GWR 455 "Metro" with a rewired and modified Hornby Railroad 1400 0-4-2T chassis. The kit was given the number of "Metros" built in 1894.

Armstrong is named after the two brothers, Joseph and George Armstrong. Both Armstrongs designed locomotives for the GWR.

Like Taffy, Armstrong has his own GWR Toad brake van, but a AA1 diagram (an Oxford model).

Armstrong sings a railway version of Dion's song 'The Wanderer'.