Hurricane, the No 8 steam locomotive built in 1927 for the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway and still running today.


Delivered on 20th July 1927, Hurricane was identical to Typhoon — a powerful three cylinder locomotive. She at once became Captain Howey's favourite and was fitted with special features such as stainless steel handrails and, in 1934, a high capacity tender modeled on the corridor tenders of the LNER. She remained three cylinder until the inside motion failed in July 1937. She fell from favour and the Captain had her painted blue and renamed Bluebottle. In this guise she was used to pull the new blue train until the war, during which time she was used extensively by the Army. After the war she retained her blue livery, found favour with the Captain once again and was renamed Hurricane. In 1950 she received smoke deflectors. In 1957, Hurricane hauled a Royal train carrying HM the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Princess Anne. To commemorate this event, she now carries a plaque on her tender locker. She carries a chromium-plated whistle similar to those fitted to the streamlined A4 pacifics of the LNER like Mallard. It was a gift of their designer Nigel Gresley to Captain Howey, who had previously presented a Canadian Pacific whistle to the famous engineer. In May 2008 she travelled all the way to Cumbria, with Typhoon, to spend some time on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. She remains as popular with visitors today as she did with the railways founder. The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR) is a 15 in (381 mm) gauge light railway in Kent, England, operating steam and internal combustion locomotives. The 13 3⁄4-mile ( km) line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St. Mary's Bay, New Romney and Romney Sands to Dungeness, close to Dungeness nuclear power station and Dungeness Lighthouse.


Size: 4706px × 3542px
Location: New Romney Station, New Romney, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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