46428

Built at Crewe Works and entered traffic on the 3rd December 1948. During its time with LMS and British Railways, 46428 was allocated to the following sheds: December 1948 (new) to 9F Heaton Mersey, September 1950 to 10B Preston, March 1951 to 10A Wigan (Springs Branch), June 1951 to 10F Lower Ince (Wigan G.C.), April 1952 to 10A Wigan (Springs Branch), June 1954 to 6K Rhyl (for a summer holiday), September 1954 to 10A Wigan (Springs Branch), Febuary 1962 to 21B Bescot, March 1962 to 21C Bushbury, October 1964 to 2L Leamington, June 1965 to 2A Tyseley and October 1966 Crewe (South)  but there is no proof that it ever got there.

Withdrawn December 1966 and stored at 2B Oxley until August 1967, when it departed for Dai Woodham’s scrap yard at Barry.

In October 1979 the loco was purchased by the Strathspey Railway, with the intention of using the boiler as a replacement for the boiler on 46464, who’s fire had been lit with no water in the boiler and it was assumed that it was badly damaged. This proved not to be the case and in 1987 our late Chairman, Colin Wrangles, heard on the grapevine that 46428 was going to be sold. Money was obtained and the loco was purchased and arrived at the ELR in 1987.

The tender was not purchased by the Strathspey Railway but was bought by the group restoring Standard 2 2-6-0 78018 at Darlington. The frames of the tender have been restored and a new BR3 tender tank has been made for it.

The first jobs done on 46428 were to remove all the boiler tubes and burn out all the bolts attaching the smokebox to the saddle. Many new parts and components have been made or purchased over the years for this engine with the intention to start on the restoration of 46428, once 80097 was restored and running on the ELR.

In 2014 a member purchased a full set of connecting rods for 46428 from the Bluebell Railway to replace those which were missing when the engine was bought from the Strathspey Railway.

46428 eventually ended up in the sidings near to Bury (South) signal box, where it was painted in red and yellow livery to coincide with the 'Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine' Weekends as 'James the Red Engine'.

In June 2016, whilst the Group were waiting for 80097's bolier to be repaired, work started on the Ivatt restoration. The smokebox retaining bolts were torched off and the axles and springs were unbolted. Using the ELR's heavy crane, the boiler was lifted and placed on a lowmac wagon, the frame was lifted from the wheels and transported to be placed on stands just outside our workshop, where further disassembly continued.

With the return of 80097's boiler work stopped but with the return to steam and commissioning of 80097 in March 2019, work recommenced on the Ivatt.

The driving wheels have been turned down, a new smokebox has been bought and the frame has been further stripped and the sub assemblies moved into the workshop for refurbishing. In the summer of 2019 the frame had been sandblasted, primed and painted.

In November 2021 the frame was lifted onto transit wheels and rolled into the BS4G workshop, where it was raised onto working stands for restoration to start in earnest. At the same time the boiler and driving wheels were brought up from Baron Street and craned into a position against the wall immediately outside the workshop. This now gives us all the Ivatt parts in one place close to the workshop.