Mystery of the week: The Strategic Steam Reserve

The mysteries of the British Railways are generally astounding and amazing. With such mysteries like Fowler’s Ghost and what actually happened to the engine or even the engines that were designed but never made and the reasons why. Today, I shall elaborate on the mystery of the Strategic Steam Reserve and any (if not all) possibility of it being true or false. Now, before I begin, I am not siding that it is real or not, I am simply stating facts that I know along with others found online.

Lets begin with what the strategic steam reserve was. 

It was a plan by the government to hide away steam locomotives in the case of a nuclear weapon's detonation in the United Kingdom.

What was it supposed to  do?

In the case that either oil supplies were cut off or if diesel or electric engines were destroyed by an electro-magnetic pulse, then steam engines hidden away in tunnels that were kept in running order in the case of these events.

Is there any proof or lead?

Sixty steam engines were supposed to be hidden away in the case of a nuclear weapon. The preferred steam engines were the Stanier 8 & 9F’s as they were the most suited for heavy duty hauling. In the 1960’s when the steam engines were being scrapped, a combined total of 60 Stanier 8 & 9F’s. There are repeated links back to the Box Hill Tunnel in Wiltshire. The reason for this is because the tunnel has a narrow gauge track running parallel to the main tunnel. The tunnel leads to a Mineral working site, these workings were taken over by the military and were used as an ammunition storage until after the second world war.

What makes this myth probable?

Well as the tunnel is on the GWR (Great Western Railway) and some Stanier 8F’s were built in Swindon works that there is a possibility of being hidden, this goes the same for the 9F’s.

What are the flaws with this?

There may have been errors in the scrap details even though this wouldn't be likely for sixty locomotives that were capable of hauling heavy loads. Another flaw would be getting the coal and water for the engines. Coal isn't a common fuel source to come about and even then, how long would it take to relocate the engines, take down any defensive barrier that is keeping them from the outside world, get the coal and water for 60 large tender engines to them, fire them, and finally getting them moving for the first time in 50 years, not to mention that by then they would have rusted internally unless they had deoxygenized water inside of them.

What do I think?
The strategic steam reserve seems like a good idea and a very plausible myth at that. Even though it is true that a total of 60 8&9F’s were and still are unaccounted for, there are some potholes in the myth. Like for example; as this is a huge mystery, wouldn’t many train & war time enthusiasts have gone to inspect this for themselves and gone to the extent of breaking into the tunnel? Another pothole is that Steam engines take a long time to fire up, especially for large tender engines like the 8&9F’s, not to mention that this supposedly happened in the 1960’s, so by now, it would be likely that the boilers would have expired and rusted unless if people were there twenty four seven making sure that they didn’t rust. 

So, this is what I’ve dug up about the SSR along with other related things. What are your opinions about this? Leave a comment and share with your friends.