The 82045 Locomotive Fund

The 82045 Locomotive Fund is in the process of building the next member of the extinct Riddles 3MT 2-6-2 82000 tank class. Unlike many of the current new build projects, which are aiming to recreate larger main-line types, the new loco is intended specifically for heritage line use.

It has been suggested that this type could be an ideal candidate for limited series production. While the Fund say that this is well beyond their own scope, they believe that making the breakthrough with 82045 could encourage others to take over in the future. Batch production would drastically reduce the unit cost of building new 82000's, estimated (2007) at between £1,250,000 and £1,500,000 for 82045.

Success with this project would also open the door to the recreation of the elegant Riddles Class 3 77000 mogul, another extinct type which is eminently well suited to service on today's heritage lines.

The driving force behind the 82045 project is the conviction that the days of working steam are numbered without an initiative of this kind: even the most recently-built of existing BR Standard locomotives are now all but 50 years old, with all the attendant problems of maintenance and repair that this will increasingly cause their owners. It seems hardly feasible that the current fleet will continue to be able to run day-to-day services in another 50 (and probably far fewer) years, but their lives will certainly be prolonged if they work alongside new engines that can shoulder some of the burden.