AN APPEAL has been launched to raise £85,000 to complete the 'ambitious' restoration of a 'unique' historic Dorset steam train.

The campaign aims to save the T3 locomotive from being bound for a scrapyard and return it to full working order for the first time since 1948.

Swanage Railway Trust’s 563 Locomotive Group has launched the appeal for the train, which was regarded as being one of the finest express passenger trains of the Victorian era.

The T3 was saved from being cut up so it could be used to help celebrate the centenary of London’s Waterloo station in 1948.

Dating from 1893, and the last survivor of its class, the locomotive had travelled a total of more than 1.5 million miles when it was withdrawn from service by the Southern Railway Company in August 1945.

Those in charge of the appeal hope to have the 81-tonne T3 back in steam for the first time in 75 years during the spring of this year.

2023 coincides with the centenary of the Southern Railway and the 185th anniversary of the London and South Western Railway’s formation.

To achieve that milestone, the Swanage Railway Trust has launched the campaign to raise the £85,000 needed to complete the locomotive’s restoration.

The project - costing a total of £600,000 - was started in November 2017 and carried out by specialist contractors at the Flour Mill workshops in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and at the Swanage Railway’s engineering works site. 

The T3 is being painted in the locomotive livery of the London and South Western Railway – Drummond Green with brown borders and a lining of black and white – which it carried between 1893 and the formation of the Southern Railway in 1923.

Chairman of the 563 Locomotive Group, Nathan Au, said: “It’s very exciting to see the finishing line for the challenging and meticulous restoration of a unique Victorian steam locomotive come into sight – we are on the final sprint and almost there.

“The T3’s working life was over before many of the other steam locomotives that we operate on the Swanage Railway had been built.

“The unique and iconic No. 563 will offer something new and exciting to everyone on the Swanage Railway – enabling our visitors, members, volunteers and locomotive crews to enjoy an evocative taste of Victorian train travel."

563 Locomotive Group treasurer Steve Doughty added: "We understand times are challenging financially for people but we hope the last push will see No. 563 back in steam for the first time since 1948.

“Seeing the T3 hauling trains through the beautiful Isle of Purbeck and past the dramatic ruins of Corfe Castle will be an amazing sight not seen in the area for almost a century.

To make a donation - or start a standing order – visit 563locomotivegroup.co.uk