British Rail for years have been trying to dispose of their scruffy yellow Ruston PWM, but it’s a bit like a cockroach and won’t go away despite intentional complete lack of maintenance in the hope that it will expire gracefully. However it will likely even outlive the omnipresent Bob Geeza Cat who must appear in most shots posted here, even though security have been trying to catch him for years.
So here we are in The Forest Of Dean and it would appear that the Ruston has joined the fleet of decrepit engines that serve Fountain Colliery. Despite a huge discount to attract a buyer, in the end British Rail had to pay for the colliery to take charge of it.
BR even threw in an old ballast brakevan used on the dreaded weekend engineering trains as a thank you. Whilst the colliery railway will have little use for the brake van, I’m sure the local hooch producers will find it a useful place to install a moonshine still.
What happens in The Forest, stays in The Forest. Hush hush.