Published: 16/03/2010 16:11 - Updated: 16/03/2010 16:24

A replica steam engine may soon be back on public display.

The replica of the Wolverton Bloomer, which was moved out of Station Square in central Milton Keynes three years ago, could be set on a plinth in the entrance to Wolverton Works, where the original was engineered in the 1850s.

A planning application has been submitted to Milton Keynes Council to place the 46 feet long replica locomotive to the side of the railway Works entrance and to knock down a wall so that it can be seen from Stratford Road.

Steve Eyres, chairman of Wolverton Society for Arts and Heritage, said: "We've been tasked by Milton Keynes Council to find a home for the Bloomer.

"It has been decided that on the left hand side of the Wolverton Works entrance there's a not very attractive wall and iron gates that could be taken down and replaced by the Bloomer.

"I think most people would like to see it on the Stratford Road where anyone coming into the town will immediately see it and I think it will look splendid."

Since it was moved to the old railway Works, which is now owned by Railcare, the Bloomer has been partly restored and repainted but the project was delayed by changes in management.

Now Lawrence Smith, 18, an apprentice at Wolverton Works, has been making final touches before it goes on public display once again.

Mr Smith, who has been a rail enthusiast from a tender age, said: "I am replacing all the fake missing rivets and fitting a hand rail to the front, which the original trains had but the replica doesn't.

"My parents bought me a train set when I was little and I was hooked from then on.

"My dad used to drive me over from Northampton on the weekends just to sit and look at the Bloomer.

 

"I didn't think that I would ever be fixing it a good ten years onwards, so I'm very happy to be involved with it."

 

Wolverton Society for Arts and Heritage originally decided that they wanted the Bloomer - which was named after Amelia Bloomer, the first lady to be photographed wearing trousers - to come back to Wolverton in 2000.

 

But they had to wait until 2007 when Milton Keynes Partnership decided they wanted to make use of Station Square.

 

The society, working with Wolverton and Greenley's Town Council, now hopes to secure funding from money paid by the developers of the McCorquodale housing site for community projects and to have the Bloomer in place before the Wolverton Works open weekend on August 14 and 15.

 

It also plans to put a war memorial for Wolverton Works employees on the site.

 

To watch a video interview with Lawrence Smith and Steve Eyres visit www.mk-news.co.uk