03/10/2026
‘T3 Travels’
London & South Western Railway Adams T3 563 was an engine no-one expected would ever run again, and yet, she is currently one of preservation’s most sought-after locomotives.
Built in 1892, the T3s were designed for fast express services out of London Waterloo. With 6’ 6’’ driving wheels and 19 x 26 inch cylinders, their tractive effort combined with solid speed was an impressive feat for the time. Nevertheless, they were eventually surpassed by generations of more modern machines.
By the start of World War Two, 563 had become the sole-surviving example. She was displayed at Waterloo’s centenary celebrations in 1945 before being passed into the national collection. Apart from cold appearances in several stage productions of ‘The Railway Children’, the engine had largely been forgotten by the early 21st Century.
However, in 2017, the National Railway Museum donated the locomotive to the Swanage Railway and rumours of a return to steam started to rumble. Six years and £650,000 later, 563 moved under her own power for the first time in seventy-five years on 20 July 2023. Relaunched into traffic that October, the engine has become a must-see attraction wherever she goes.
Case in point, hundreds of photographers lined the North Yorkshire Moors Railway last weekend, where 563 guest-starred at their ‘Annual Steam Gala’, alongside LNER A4 ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’ and GWR Collett 4079 ‘Pendennis Castle’. The T3 is seen snaking her way along Eller Beck with an early morning train to Pickering. 26/09/26. #563
Swanage Railway Trust 563 Locomotive Group
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
Swanage Railway
