In Pictures: Lucie says farewell to the East Lancashire Railway

Of the various eras of tramway operation one of the more regular ones which is little represented in the operating collections across the British Isles is that of the steam tram. There is only one fully operational standard gauge steam tram locomotive in the country and that comes from Belgium! Normally based at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway it has recently spent a period on loan across the Pennines at the East Lancashire Railway but this came to an end with a So Long Lucie event on Saturday 8^th July.

Lucie – as now known – was built in 1890 by the John Cockerill Company. Numbered 8 in the fleet of the East Brussels Tram Company fleet, it ran alongside sister loco 7 on a route between Saint Jose Place and the Brussels Cemetery in Evere. Its believed that Lucie would have been used on passenger service, funeral trains and possibly freight workings during her time on that tramway. Unfortunately, when the line was taken over by SNCV they converted it to metre gauge which meant no. 8 was unemployed. Sold on to the Vielle Montage Mining Company it became an industrial steam locomotive and this was when it received the name Lucie.

It eventually came to the UK in 1987 and initially ran at Peak Rail before it moved on to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and was restored to use. Becoming a star on the Yorkshire Steam Railway TV series on Channel 5, it was also featured on The Big Steam Adventure earlier this year when John Sergeant, Peter Davison and Paul “Piglet” Middleton (the owner of the loco) attempted to travel from London to Scotland by steam.

Lucie was loaned to the East Lancashire Railway earlier this year to feature at their Small Engines weekend and stuck around for a little while after this. This finally came to an end on Saturday 8^th July when a So Long Lucie event was held which saw Lucie working a couple of Bury Bolton Street to Ramsbottom shuttles.

Lucie and her two coaches (BR Mk1 coaches M4873 and M35314) stand at Ramsbottom ahead of returning to Bury Bolton Street with a 1211 departure.

A side-on view of Lucie.

Preparations are made ahead of departure by the footplate crew.

Little and large! As Lucie awaits departure Bulleid Pacific 257 Squadron (on loan from the Spa Valley Railway) pulls into Ramsbottom.

The makers plate on Lucie. (All Photographs by Trevor Hall, 8th July 2023)