LB&SCR A1X class 55 Stepney

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway A1X Class number 55 Stepney is a preserved steam locomotive based at the Bluebell Railway in East and West Sussex, England. Stepney is well known as the first standard gauge engine to be based at the Bluebell Railway, arriving by rail on 17 May 1960. Stepney was featured in the Railway Series book Stepney The "Bluebell" Engine. He was also featured in the TV series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. However, he was rescued by Rusty the Diesel in the TV series and he runs his own branch line running beside the Skarloey Railway. The junior (8 years old and under) membership scheme of the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society is known as the Stepney Club.

Stepney re-entered service on the Bluebell in May 2010 after a fast track overhaul and will be used on light duties until its poor mechanical condition necessitates withdrawal for overhaul again. Stepney currently wears the lined black livery that was carried during the first (1960) season on the Bluebell. On January 14, 2012, Stepney made an "only-morning" appearince in BR Lined Black with the "cycling lion" crest and his BR number, 32655, for a special photographic charter. He carried the same BR Lined Black Livery again on April 17, 2012 for another photographic charter, this time though with the later "ferret and dartboard" crest. He returned to "Bluebell Black" in time for his visit to the National Railway Museum's "Railfest" in the first week of June 2012.

Stepney appears in the music video for Tracey Ullman's 'Move Over Darling' (1983).

External links

• Stepney's page on the Bluebell Railway website
• Stepney on The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine