Seen here pulling slowly into Ropley station is a Urie S15 numbered 506 commissioned by the London and South Western Railway. It was ordered in March 1917 and completed at Eastleigh works in October 1920 (she’s not looking too bad for over 100, I’d say!). It remained based in the vicinity of London for all of its service, starting at Nine Elms near Battersea, and moving in 1923 to Feltham, near to where London Heathrow Airport currently resides. 506 (subsequently numbered 30506 for a time by Southern Railway) mostly pulled heavy goods and seaside holiday traffic, though presumably not at the same time.

After accumulating over 1.2 million miles in service, 506 was withdrawn from service in January 1962. It along with 3 other engines of the S15 class were bought and ordered to the Barry Scrapyard, and 506 was selected to pull the others. However, after blowing a superheater element on the way, it would not arrive at Barry until August. In 1972 a group of enthusiasts was founded to save 506 from scrap, which they did in March 1973 after buying it for £4,000, although its move to the Watercress Line would not occur until 1976. After setbacks to the restoration project, 506 ran under steam again in 1987, and continued to operate until 2001 when a full overhaul was commissioned. The overhaul saw much of the engine being rebuilt from scratch, after which it was returned to service in 2019.

Hope you enjoy!