Class 50 locomotive No. 50033 Glorious from STEAM in Swindon is moving to East London on free long-term loan later this year, to aid a ground-breaking project designed to help thousands of young people get new careers in the railway industry.

Plans to use the recently-closed 3km (2 miles) line between North Woolwich and Custom House for a railway training school have been drawn up over the past year, and RailSchool will be receiving its first students later this month.

RailSchool is being backed by the London Borough of Newham, Newham College and the Learning & Skills Council, and has been created to meet the need for thousands of new recruits on London’s growing railways. The locomotive, No. 50033 Glorious, is being lent to RailSchool at North Woolwich indefinitely by STEAM – the Museum of the GWR.

Curator of STEAM Felicity Jones said: ‘We are delighted that Glorious is to be part of this exciting project to help young people launch their careers in the railways. The new home will give this locomotive a new lease of life by allowing it to operate as a working locomotive and so bringing it back to its former glory. We wish RailSchool and all the project partners every success in this innovative and worthwhile venture.’

RailSchool CEO Neil Howard, who was a senior manager with British Rail, said: ‘We are deeply moved by the generosity of STEAM and Swindon Borough Council in entrusting Glorious to this project. It will be arriving as a working diesel locomotive, and will be a vital part of RailSchool. This is about creating a working railway which will launch thousands of young people on new careers over the next few years. There’s nothing else like this in Britain, and the closure of the railway between North Woolwich and Custom House last year provided a unique opportunity. Railways in London rarely close, and we are grabbing this very special opportunity with both hands. We will also be using the line for heritage trains soon, adding to the tourist assets in this exciting and fast-regenerating part of Docklands, and relaunching the railway museum at North Woolwich too. The arrival of Glorious is just the start.’

Notes
* RailSchool will be supported by a Board of Patrons, and will be able to take its students all the way through to essential National Vocational Qualifications. Several railway companies and organisations have already come on board. They include Transport for London, Govia (Southeastern), National Express (c2c) and Eurostar.
* The heritage operation and museum will be run by a second organisation, the Royal Docks Heritage Railway Ltd.
* The North London line between North Woolwich and Stratford closed on 9 December 2006, but the section between North Woolwich and Custom House must be preserved for Crossrail in the longer term. RailSchool and the Royal Docks Heritage Railway will mean that this Eastside artery will be well used in the meantime, rather than becoming derelict. (Most of the rest of the line onwards to Stratford is being converted for an extension of the Docklands Light Railway. This includes a new link with Stratford International station and is due to open in 2010.)
* The railway museum at North Woolwich has been run until now by the London Borough of Newham, which recognised the Royal Docks Heritage Railway as its formal partner and successor as the operator of the museum at a meeting of the full council in July 2006.