IVATT ‘2MT’ 2 ‐ 6‐2T No. 41313 made a rare visit across the Solent to mainland Britain for the Spa Valley Railway’s Southern-themed Summer Steam-Up on June 17/18.
It was the first time the Isle of Wight Steam Railway-based ‘Mickey Mouse’ tank had returned to the mainland since it moved to the island in October 2017, following the completion of its restoration from Barry condition at the East Somerset Railway in June that year. The 1952-built Class 2 tank was one of two visiting locomotives at the event, the other being Bluebell Railway-based ex-South Eastern & Chatham Railway ‘O1’ No. 65, making only its second visit away from the Bluebell in the preservation era. The 1896-built 0 ‐ 6‐0 was temporarily withdrawn from traffic on the Saturday evening owing to problems with one of its injectors. Spa Valley Railway commercial manager Jonnie Pay explained: “It had some sludge and muck around the sieve boxes in the tender, probably where it went on a lorry, that made the fireman’s side injector difficult to run properly on the Saturday evening, so we pulled it from service. We worked on it that evening to get it out on the Sunday morning and I can tell you now, it is an awesome locomotive!”
