53809’s hire contract on the West Somerset Railway expired at the end of December and it has now been confirmed by the owners, the 53809 Preservation Society, that she will be departing for a new long-term home at the North Norfolk Railway.
It has very much been a pleasure and a unique opportunity to have the two surviving S&D sisters 53808 and 53809 working together on the WSR for the past 22 months, and we hope there will be future opportunities to reunite the pair of them during the remaining years of their respective boiler tickets. In the meantime we wish 53809 and her owners the very best of luck in her new surroundings.