WILPT Warwickshire Industrial Locomotive Preservation Trust
Charity No 1201400 VAT Reg No 466 8528 44 (merger of WILPG & WILT charity no 1041723)
REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2025
The Warwickshire Industrial Locomotive Preservation Trust (new CIO) was registered by the Charity Commissioners on 21st December 2022, No 1201400. The Charities objectives are,
To promote the preservation for the benefit of the public of steam locomotives or rolling stock of historic interest.
To educate the public about steam locomotives or rolling stock of historic interest and the contributions made by them to the industrial life of this country.
Legal and Administrative Information
Trustees are elected by the members at the annual general meeting for a one year term. The 2025 AGM was held on 13 April in 2025 held at the Kidderminster Railway Museum. Vice President D Eve from April 2025
Chair N Cripps, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
Secretary D. Cooke, Towcester, Northamptonshire. Treasurer R Jones Warwick, Warwickshire resigned April 2025 B. Shaw, Derby, Derbyshire from April 2025 Membership Secretary (Acting) D. Cooke
Trustees B. Hill, Warwick, Warwickshire from February 2025 C. Jones, Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire. R. Cooke, Towcester, Northamptonshire A. Poole, Stourport, Worcestershire R. Jones, Warwick, Warwickshire D Eve, Great Alne, Warwickshire resigned April 2025
The Trustees held one face to face meeting during the year. Additional email and Zoom meetings were held as restoration works with Warwickshire progressed.
Principle Activities
Throughout 2025 the 1898 built Hunslet locomotive ‘The Lady Armaghdale’ was prominently on public displayed in the Engine House Museum at Highley on the Severn Valley Railway. The overhaul of the Trust’s second locomotive ’Warwickshire’ has made significant progress with both the mechanical and new boiler elements. Progress with the mechanical overhaul at Bewdley is entirely due to the work of a skilled group of volunteers who are our own members and the 1501 group. Thank you to them. Work has continued with the bureaucracy to close down WILT (charity 1041723) and to develop plans for celebrating ‘Warwickshire’s’ 2026 centenary.
The Warwickshire overhaul
Overhaul of the pistons, valves and motion has been completed and the components have been reassembled in the engine frames. The boiler manufacturer has constructed sizable inner and outer firebox components. The next stage is to assemble the boiler shell and undertake a trial fitting in the locomotive frames. See appendix (page 4) for technical details and photos.
The policy is to have cash available before placing orders for specialist firms to manufacture major components. The overhaul is approaching the stage of needing more funds for reassembly, testing and painting in the Seven Valley Railways Bridgnorth workshops.
Finance
The financial report for WILPT attached is page 3 of this report.
Educational Activity
The periodic Severn Valley Railway behind the scenes events will continue to be used to guide the public to view the restoration of Warwickshire in Bewdley Yard. The WILPT website has been kept up to date with regular reports on the restoration progress of MW2047 and is available to view at: www.wilt.jimdo.com
The WILPT Group Facebook page has also had regular updates and can be found under:facebook.com/groups/525132404750071.
Governance
The Trustees have kept under review the education, safeguarding & GDPR policies.
WILPT has now taken over from both WILT and WILPG. WILPG has closed down but the process of closing WILT is progressing disappointingly slowly.
Membership
Now stands at thirty six However, a few subscriptions are still not paid for 2025.
Programme for 2026
The Lady Armaghdale will continue to be on public display in the SVR Engine House at Highley. Warwickshire’s restoration will continue. Plans are being developed for Warwickshire’s centenary. A manned exhibition is proposed at a SVR Members and Shareholders event on 19 June and on 8th August (the Centenary weekend) an event for our members and supporters.
Annual General meeting
This report was approved at the Annual General Meeting held on 12th April 2026.
D Cooke Secretary
41 Norton Crescent Towcester Northants, NN12 6DW
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WILPT Financial Report 2025
Summary - A planned loss of £16,425.70 was made in 2025
Income
Expenditure
| Income | Expenditure | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership subs with gift aid | £1,240.00 | Account fees | £120 |
| Membership subs without gift aid | £206.00 | Israel Newton (Boiler) | £23,940.00 |
| Donation with gift aid | £6,500 | Statfold | £6,588.00 |
| Donation without git aid | £422.75 | Premier Patterns | £2,250.00 |
| VAT refund | £5,565.34 | Midtherm | £423.53 |
| Interest | £3,006.58 | Room booking | £50 |
| Gift aid refund from HMRC | £0 | Misc expenses | £196.14 |
| Bequests | £0 | ||
| Cash donations | £26.30 | ||
| Cash subs | £25 | ||
| Scrap | £150 | ||
| Total | £17,141.97 | Total | £33,567.67 |
Notes;
Gift aid has yet to be claimed for 2024 and 2025
A part of the interest for 2025 will be in the 2026 accounts, but income includes some interest for 2024
Account balances at 31/12/2025
| WILPT CAF Cash | £237.69 |
|---|---|
| WILPT CAF Gold | £18,228.08 |
| WILT CAF Cash | £50.01 |
| WILT CAF Gold | £47,935.10 |
| Barclays | £290.01 |
| Shawbrook 12 Month bond £23,642.67 | |
| Cash | £44.68 |
| Total | £90,428.24 |
Accounts produced by;
Ben Shaw
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Appendix to 2025 Annual report
WARWICKSHIRE INDUSTRIAL LOCOMOTIVE PRESERVATION TRUST
Annual Locomotive Progress Report - 2025
The Year of 2025 has again seen significant progress in the restoration of MW2047 carried out by volunteers at SVR Bewdley and HE686 has been on public display inside The Engine House Visitor Centre at SVR Highley.
The major developments with Warwickshire are significant and it is important to place on record many thanks to our colleagues in the 1501 Passenger Tank Association without whose help, guidance & expertise we would not have made such good progress. Hopefully, we can return the favour when 1501 undertakes its next overhaul (boiler ticket expired in January 2023).
Summary
In 2025 the work undertaken on Warwickshire included
Valve gear refurbishment including rebushing by the team at Statfold Barn
Cylinder bores cleaned.
Crossheads machined and fitted.
Piston rods and slide bars refurbished and fitted.
Boiler Fittings retrieved from store and refurbished.
Saddletank rubbed down and repainted.
New little end bearings manufactured and fitted.
Meanwhile at Isreal Newton’s works in Derbyshire there has been steady progress manufacturing the new boiler and in September the Trustees were invited to visit the works to inspect progress. Assemble work has not begun but major components for the inner and outer firebox plus the foundation ring were examined. There have been delays associated with work being stopped awaiting for visits from the insurance company boiler inspector.
The next stage is for the manufacturer to assemble the boiler outer shell and trial fit it into the boiler frame. For this a new smoke box is needed, the original is very thin and at the end of its’ working life. A replacement is being designed.
2025 month by month synopsis
In January the motion and valve gear components of MW2047were assessed and work began on refurbishment.
In February machining work was completed on new crossheads and we received news from Israel Newton that the firebox formers required for construction of new boiler are now made.
In March, both sets of siderods were retrieved from storage, dismantled, cleaned and painted. The new valve & piston glands were also trial fitted and cylinder bores cleaned so that refurbished piston rod assemblies could be trial fitted. A new drawing of the regulator
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valve was prepared and gudgeon pins were fitted to new crossheads. Later in the month the LH side rods were trial fitted and the RH crosshead was fitted to piston rods.
In April the annual Open House Event was held and we had a Sales & Information Stand at Bewdley where conducted tours of the Down Yard were undertaken. The WILPT AGM was held as usual in the library of the Kidderminster Railway Museum.
At Bewdley new cotter pins were machined and a new pattern also made for the regulator valve. The new RH crosshead and slipper blocks were trial fitted to the piston rod.
In May, the original boiler fittings were retrieved from store and were dismantled and refurbished in preparation for dispatch to Israel Newton. The RH coupling rods were painted and trial fitted.
In June, we were informed that the inner firebox formers had been fabricated and that the front firebox outer plate had been formed. At Bewdley, both LH & Coupling rods were finally fitted. The saddle tank was rubbed down and painted
In July, the slide valves were trial fitted and the underside of the saddle tank was given a coat of green undercoat. At this time the eccentrics were dismantled and refurbished prior to refitting.
In August, the reversing gear was trial fitted and the valve gear which had been sent to the Statfold Barn Railway for re-bushing and new pins made, was re-assembled. In addition, in glorious weather the outer surface of the saddle tank was given another coat of gloss paint. Towards the end of the month the valve gear slides were trial fitted and the remaining valve gear was fitted in place.
In September, new slide valve spacers were made and we received news from Israel Newton that the outer firebox front and rear endplates had been drilled and components of the inner firebox tack welded together. A visit by Trustees to Israel Newton then took place to witness progress on the boiler construction. Towards the end of the month, the LH slipper blocks and crosshead were fitted followed by machining of RH connecting rod little end bearing.
In October, the new valve slide spacers were fitted to valve slides.
In November, a new bearing was made for the RH little end and fitted in place.
Once all components were fitted, a start was made on setting the valves which required moving the locomotive backwards and forwards (manually shunted). The Warwickshire Railway Society (WRS) held its final meeting at the Kidderminster Railway Museum. WRS involved their members presenting photos of WRS activity. 3 of our Trustees made presentations. Robin Jones presented slides of activity in the 1960s, Brian Hill made a presentation about the 1501 PRA (charity no 1134477) and Nigel Cripps made a presentation about WILPT.
In December, packing was made and fitted to eccentric straps and Valve chest covers were refitted. Following this all nuts on cylinder covers & valve chest covers were tightened to correct torque settings. Finally, the front buffer beam was refitted.
The Boiler Inspector has now approved the new front ring for boiler enabling Isreal Newton Ltd to manufacture. David reported “to place on order”, not sure if Isreal Newton is doing the work or is subcontracting the work.
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Proposals for 2026
Looking forward to 2026 it is intended to carry on the restoration work at Bewdley on MW2047 and continue seeing HE686 on public display in The Engine House. The shell of the new boiler for MW2047 is due to be delivered to the SVR Bewdley early in the New Year for a trial fitting and the completed boiler delivered towards the end of the year if all goes according to plan. It is planned to hold a Centenary Celebration Event for MW2047 in the Engine House on Saturday 8th August to which all Members are invited to attend.
Notable membership and Trustee changes
At the April AGM we said farewell to David Eve who was standing down as a Trustee and to Robin Jones who was standing down as Treasurer – a post he had held since the early days of WILPG pre 1966. However, Robin had agreed to continue as a Trustee. Revd David Eve was a founding Trustee of WILT (Nov 1993) and the AGM resolved to appoint David as Vice President. A new Trustee Ben Shaw had agreed to become Treasurer. We also welcomed Brian Hill as a new Trustee initially by co-option then elected at the AGM. Brian is also Secretary of the 1501 PTA.
RIP During 2025 the Trust lost 3 members who had made significant contributions
Peter Kennard was the chair of the 1501 PTA and chair of WRS. He was a founding member of our predecessor organisation the Warwickshire Locomotive Preservation Group. He regularly attended AGMs and made a lively contribution usually making some helpful but occasionally challenging comments.
Gabrielle Eve was David’s wife who was a school teacher by training, was brilliant at speaking to the public at open days and had a wealth of ideas for engaging children and their parents.
David Eve was a Church of England vicar and our Vice President. He wrote the Trust Deed for WILT and later WILPG and negotiated them through to approval by the Charity Commission
Trustees and members attended their funerals.
Secretary,
W.I.L.P.T.
WILPT address: 41 Norton Crescent, Towcester, Northants NN12 6DW Telephone No. 01327 352836 Email: davidncooke_686@yahoo.co.uk
http://wilt.jimdo.com. This Website giving details of both locomotives and their history.
Links to WILPT exist on SVR Websites, Facebook Pages and SVR Wikipedia.
In addition to above pages a new WILPT Facebook Group has been established to allow all supporters of WILPT to add their own photos and comments regarding both our locomotives. This Group can be found at:
www.facebook.com/groups/525132404750071
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0-6-0ST MW2047 Warwickshire New Crossheads @ SVR Bewdley 12.1.25 (photo: Brian Hill)
New MW2047 Firebox Former @ Israel Newton 21.2.25 (photo: John Eastwood)
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0-6-0STMW2047 Warwickshire LH Piston Rod Gland 9.3.25 (photo: Brian Hill)
MW2047 Firebox Back Head @ Israel Newton 04.09.25 (photo: Nigel Cripps)
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0-6-0ST MW2047 Warwickshire LH Coupling Rods fitted 22.6.25 (photo: David Cooke)
MW2047 Trustees examine the Inner Firebox @ Israel Newton 04.09.25 (photo: Nigel Cripps)
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MW2047 Slide Valve Carrier with new spacer 29.10.25 (photo: Brian Hill)
0-6-0ST MW2047 Ariel view of Motion & Valve Gear 26.11.25 (photo: Brian Hill)
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