Tube150 Partners

Boston Lodge Works of the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway

Metropolitan Railway Jubilee Carriage No. 353 Restoration Project (Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund)

Boston Lodge is the engineering works of the Ffestiniog Railway Company, the oldest independent railway company in the world. The present workforce are continuing a long established tradition of innovation and quality stretching back more than one hundred and fifty years. Fifty years of preservation work have resulted in a wide range of expertise in the field of engineering at Boston Lodge. Heritage locomotives and carriages are restored and repaired on site and modern locomotives and stock are also produced. The Ffestiniog Railway and Welsh Highland Railway passes through several miles of spectacular woodland which led to the conversion of many 19th Century coal-fired locomotives to oil firing to avoid the risk of forest fires.

London Transport Museum Friends

The Friends have contributed £150,000 of funding towards the restoration of the Metropolitan Railway Jubilee Carriage No. 353 Restoration Project and volunteering at special events throughout the 150 anniversary year.

The Bluebell Railway

The Bluebell Railway, which runs steam trains over a restored 10-mile line in Sussex, acquired four Metropolitan Railway “Ashbury” coaches in 1961.  They returned to London Transport in 1963 for the Metropolitan centenary celebrations.  By the late 1960s they were no longer fit for use, but were stored until 1991, when a team emerged to restore them to working order.  Over the next 15 years a group of volunteers not only did the physical restoration work, with a team of up to 20 working on the coaches every Saturday, but also the fund-raising for the materials used.  One aim had always been to enable them to run again on the Metropolitan, and so we are very pleased that this is now able to happen

The Flour Mill

Metropolitan Locomotive No. 1 Restoration Project
The Flour Mill has restored many iconic steam locomotives to full working order. This tradition has continued with the extensive overhaul of Met No.1, including repairing its boiler, frames and running gear Other locomotives overhauled by the company include GWR Pannier 4612, Well-Tank 3063 and 9F ‘Black Prince’ 92203. They also built a new replica of Stephenson’s Rocket for the National Railway Museum.

Buckinghamshire Railway Centre

Owner of Metropolitan Locomotive No. 1 and Operations Partners, the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is a working steam museum where you can step back in time as you view the giants of the steam age displayed on a spacious 25 acre site. Exhibits range from express passenger locomotives to the humble shunting engine. Carriages include a dining car from the royal train of 1901 as well as another reputedly used by General Eisenhower and Winston Churchill amongst others for wartime planning meetings. Smaller items are not forgotten with many exhibits providing a snapshot of how the coming of the railways changed the way of life of the entire country. The Metropolitan Locomotive No.1 will be in steam at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre during August 2013.

A1 Steam Locomotive Trust

The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, the registered charity which built and now operates 60163 Tornado, the first new main line steam locomotive to be built in Britain for almost 50 years, assisted the London Transport Museum through the loan of its authentic-looking LED headlamps for use with Metropolitan Locomotive No. 1. These were used on the London Underground 150th Anniversary steam trains between Earls Court and Moorgate during January 2013.