The Iron Horse of the Apocalypse

Steam Locomotives Ready for the Nuclear Option?

There are 70 missing large and powerful steam locomotives in the UK that did not get scrapped, and they are also not owned by any preservation lines. They were some of the most modern of their kind and were built just before British Rail went fully diesel and electric. This anomaly has baffled trainspotters and insurance brokers for decades.

Now here is where it gets fascinating. There are stories of railwaymen who were told to drive the locomotives to secret locations by the Ministry of Defence. Then the steam engines were shunted down sloping tracks into individual oil pits built for each loco. Completely submerging them in oil. The rail workers were then told to sign the Official Secrets Act and never mention anything about what happened ever again. Naturally, some did in time, and the story filtered out from the railway industry into the general public.

Now, why would the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) do this (in the mid-1960s)? The answer was to stockpile a strategic reserve of steam locomotives in case of nuclear war. In the event of a large EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) from atomic explosions, which would knock out all electrically powered networks and vehicles, this would also include ignition systems for combustion-engined-driven machines.

The stored steam locomotives could be then hauled out of the oil pits (the oil storage bath was used to prevent rusting) and put almost immediately into service as good as new. This is not unique to the UK. The Soviets built a huge fleet of steam locomotives, and once manufactured, which were then immediately placed into storage - on remote lines and sidings in Siberia and throughout the former USSR - in case of nuclear war. The Swedes also had a preserved roster of locos for the same reason; in case of EMP knocking out their diesel and electric locomotives.

To this day, rumors persist as to the whereabouts of the 70 missing British steam locos. The two main potential hiding sites most commonly mentioned are; near Bath in Somerset inside a tunnel - off a main tunnel - which was once an underground quarry. Another possible location is underneath a hill in Scotland. So many rural lines were closed under the Beeching Act in the early 1960's, that any number of disused and sealed tunnels could be hiding these engines within their oily slumber waiting for the day when they were needed once more to roar out of the tunnel mouth and into service under the fiery, radiated skies of Britain's nuclear bedlam.

It would also make sense to scatter the locomotives around the country rather than risk them all in one or two locations. This is what makes this 'urban legend' one of the most highly plausible - if not, almost 'romantic' - conspiracy theories around and one that deserves serious investigation. It's indeed remarkable to think of the idea of steam locomotives hauling trains through a post-apocalyptic landscape of the future. But that is precisely the contingency that has been made.

Let's hope they remain within their oily sarcophagi.