W.I.L.P.G. - Section 1
MW2047 'Warwickshire' after restoration at Bridgnorth in July 1974
The Warwickshire Industrial LocomotivePreservation Group was formed in 1967 to save a small steam locomotive which just happened to be the last Manning Wardle (2047/1926) built in Leeds prior to the Company being wound up in 1927. The Group initially Comprised of 30 Members who each subscribed the princely sum of £10 to cover the purchase price (£150) and transport cost (£55), the balance to go towards the cost of restoration to working order. The locomotive was moved by road to Bridgnorth on the 22nd. October 1967 & during the next 14 months was restored to working order, being steamed for the first time in early December 1968. Repainted in a new blue livery it was put to use on works trains and for giving footplate rides in the station yard at Bridgnorth during Steam Gala Days. The locomotive was in regular use on Station Pilot and occasional filming duties (plus a visit to the 'Town & Country Festival' at the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh in 1974) until it was taken out of traffic at the end of 1975 for the boiler to be retubed. Following this the locomotive was assigned to the Permanent Way Department of the S.V.R. and continued to be heavily used until finally withdrawn at the end of 1977 with a defective fusible plug. When the locomotive was eventually dismantled for overhaul (in 1988) it was found that the boiler was beyond economic repair. After some careful consideration a fund was started to purchase a new (or secondhand) boiler, the locomotive being re-assembled, and cosmetically restored to its original green livery and placed on static display outside the Kidderminster Railway Museum (in 1998) while the process of fund raising continues. It is estimated that a new boiler will cost around £45,000 of which some £25,000 has been raised so far.
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