Quainton_Road_E0314_(30585). UK heritage steam in the 1960s and 1970s. Perhaps THE star exhibit at Quainton Road’s Buckingham Railway Centre is Beattie 2-4-0WT No.E0314, seen in Southern Railway livery during September 1976. Built in 1874 (Beyer Peacock Works No.1414) for the London & South Western Railway’s suburban services around London, a total of 85 were constructed between 1863 and 1875. Superseded by larger locomotives, all except three were withdrawn by 1898, the surviving trio going to the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway in North Cornwall. There they operated from Wadebridge shed until 1962, specifically performing on the Wenford Bridge china clay branch whose tortuous curves required a short wheelbase locomotive. After withdrawal one sadly was scrapped, but this locomotive, nowadays in BR livery numbered 30585, survives, with sister 30587 (Southern 0298),  in the care of the National Railway Museum. From there it is usually out-stationed at the Bodmin and Wenford preserved railway, thereby seeing occasional use over part of its former stamping grounds. roger.griffiths@hotmail.com