A UNIQUE Victorian steam locomotive which escaped the scrapyard thanks to the centenary of a major train station could be restored to full working order.

The Swanage Railway Trust’s 563 Locomotive Group hopes to raise the £350,000 needed for the restoration of the 1893-built London and South Western Railway T3 class 4-4-0 wheel arrangement locomotive No. 563. If successful, the engine could again haul trains through Purbeck.

The engine was saved from scrap when its significance was recognised on the centenary of London Waterloo.

563 Locomotive Group chairman Matt McManus said: “This is one of the most exciting locomotive restoration projects of the last 25 years – a unique project that will bring a locomotive most people thought would never steam again back into life on the railway that it was built for.

“The Swanage Railway Trust believes the best way for No. 563 to tell its important transport, industrial and social story is to return the unique locomotive to steam so it can again haul trains in the Isle of Purbeck for the first time in some 80 years.”

The T3-class steam locomotive was donated to the Swanage Railway Trust, a registered charity, by the National Railway Museum in May 2017.

After No. 563 was stripped down to its component parts, it was found that the locomotive was in a good mechanical condition.

Mr McManus said: “The T3 allows us to go right back to the very start of railways in Dorset. No. 563 enables the Swanage Railway Trust to show how railways connected rural and coastal communities in the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

“The T3 was built in 1893 – just eight years after the Swanage branch line opened in 1885 – with No. 563 being used to bring express passenger trains from London to Corfe Castle and Swanage. This created a legacy of tourism which remains to this day.

“The T3s were known as strong, free steaming and fast locomotives and we expect that No. 563 will be able to handle five-carriage trains on the Swanage Railway with relative ease.”

To make a donation to the T3 fund, send a cheque – made payable to the Swanage Railway Trust – to the T3 Fund, Swanage Railway Trust, Station House Swanage Dorset BH19 1HB.

To find out how you can help return No. 563 to steam, visit website 563locomotivegroup.co.uk.