P L E G - Preserved Locomotive Enthusiasts Group

Our future events can be viewed on this page, and while this list may not be extensive, please rest assured that much is going on behind the scenes. It is a fact that the events that PLEG attempts to organise are at the harder end of the organisational spectrum. If they were easy to organise, other groups, or the railways themselves, would have already organised them in the past. A lot of what we attempt to organise meets with various stages of resistance in the process, but rest assured that we do our utmost to persevere, and only come to a dead end when, disappointedly, a railway basically says 'We are just not interested!' That is of course a shame for us, and for them, as we would never propose anything to a railway unless we believed the railway would make money from the event. At this moment in time we are currently working on, or involved in, proposals with a number of different sites. We don't know as yet which of these proposals will go through to a 'live' event, but you will find out about it on this website first. And don’t forget, PLEG still has a 100% record – everything we have ever advertised to work at one of our events has produced on the day! You can view our past events by clicking here.

There has been a tremendous response to this proposed charter and it will definitely now go ahead. If anyone else is considering joining could you please still email the email link below in order to ascertain numbers.

PLEG is delighted to offer a first, and very unlikely to be repeated, opportunity to have 08507 for haulage on passenger stock at Central Rivers Depot, near Burton on Trent. In addition to the rare haulage, we will traverse as many lines and headshunts of the depot as we can within the operational and time constraints. This is a charity event and the entire proceeds will go to the depot's chosen charity, Macmillan Cancer Support.

The event will take place on Thursday 9th September 2010 at 19.00 prompt. Ample free car parking will be available. The event will last for approximately 40 minutes.

A minimum donation of £10 is required, though any generosity above this base price would be gratefully received. PLEG must secure at least 50 participants to make the event viable. Your donation will be taken on the day.

The visit will be open to over 16’s only and strictly no photographs will be allowed. Patrons must be able to climb numerous steep steps without assistance.

We are still trying to arrange an event at the Royal Deeside Railway but unfortunately we are waiting for all of their locos to return to service before this can happen. Currently only D2134 is in service. D2094 is undergoing some injector and cylinder work at present and D9551 hasn't been operational all year . The railway believes it won't be until 2011 before all the traction would be available for service.

First the bad news:

The 03 now has its vacuum exhauster installed but not yet coupled to the hydraulic drive (still quite a big job).
The 14 has it's Voith gearbox jammed - They're gradually dismantling it in situ to try and un-jam it. If you know anyone who's done this before please let them know.

Now the good news:

A separate working group has been set up to get the coaches all working OK. So far most of the doors have been un-stuck and the leaks in the brake pipework rectified. They should be ready soon.

So they are currently running the Barclay 0-4-0 diesel with the BEMU.

We have been in contact again with the Royal Deeside Railway regarding their fleet status and availability of a PLEG visit to use their 03 + 14 on loco hauled stock. Unfortunately both these locos are awaiting further work. A vacuum exhauster has been sourced and now needs to be fitted to the 03 in order for this loco to be made operative. The class 14 is in the process of having a new coupling fitted and attention to some leaks. We are still in contact with the railway to pursue the likelihood of an event which hopefully will be achievable in the future.

However, on 16-17th August the railway is planning to use its newly acquired loco, Andrew Barclay Diesel 415 from Rutland Railway Museum on rides using the BEMU. Please support the railway by a visit if you are able to !!”

We remain committed to organising another event at this railway as and when both the Class 03 and 14 become available again, but at this point we have no idea when that will be. We will send an e-mail to all of our members who have supplied us with an e-mail address when we have an update on the situation. Many thanks.

An update from the railway on 1st August revealed that both the Cl.03 and Cl.14 are still undergoing repairs, with the suggested date for our visit now put back to February 2008.

The railway require a mechanical vacuum exhauster and associated governor and proportional valve for the Class 03 - If any PLEG member know of where Royal Deeside can source this equipment please e-mail the PLEG Group Leader via the Contacts page. Many thanks.

Following PLEG’s successful visit in May 2005 we are planning a repeat trip to the Royal Deeside Railway in Scotland during late 2007. The trip will feature haulage from the Class 03 (03134) and the Class 14 (D9551). To register your interest and for further details please send an email to events@pleg.org.uk. This tour has had to be postponed from out originally planned date in February due to problems with the availability of the Class 14 and suitable coaching stock.