FEPOW Memorial Locomotive Appeal
“to keep going the spirit that kept them going”
Rocks by Rail – the Living Ironstone Museum is a small volunteer run community based industrial railway museum located near Cottesmore in Rutland, England. The museum is an educational charity and within its collection the Museum owns the Far Eastern Prisoner of War steam locomotive SINGAPORE.
The loco was built in the UK in in 1936 and supplied to the Royal Navy Dockyard in Singapore. On 15th February 1942 the locomotive in company with 80,000 allied servicemen became a prisoner of war of the Japanese upon the Fall of Singapore.
‘Singapore’ on the 80th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore
Singapore often worked alongside parties of prisoners unloading ships in the dockyard. Repatriated in 1953 the loco finished its military service at Chatham Naval Dockyard in 1972 before being preserved.
Preserved in Rutland since 1979 the loco is a registered UK war memorial to FEPOW’s. Restored to working order in 1998 the loco last steamed in 2008. Funds are being raised to overhaul the loco as a working war memorial but a few years ago these plans received a significant setback when thieves broke in and stole parts of the loco valve gear.
The Memorial Plaque on Singapore relates a small part of it’s history and the fact that it is a unique War Memorial
Manufacturing replacement new parts to and carrying out other repairs to return it to steam again will prove very expensive for the small volunteer run museum. However the museum plans to continue with its restoration plans but the associated costs will now be much higher. Consequently the Museum has launched a public appeal to help fund this work which would see the locomotive returned to steam rather than remain a static exhibit.
A target of £40,000 has been set for the appeal fund and any donations by cheque should be made payable to Rutland Railway Museum and handed in at the museum or sent to:
RBR Treasurer, FEPOW Memorial Locomotive Appeal, 4 Main Street, Stanford on Soar, Loughborough LE12 5PY