London, Brighton and South Coast RailwayA1X Class number 55 Stepney, named after the district of 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.[1] 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 was used on light duties until its main steam pipe failed in early 2014. Stepney currently wears Stroudley Improved Engine Green, but previously wore the lined black livery that was carried during the first (1960) season on the Bluebell. On 14 January 2012, Stepney made an "only-morning" appearance in BR Lined Black with the "cycling lion" crest and its BR number, 32655, for a special photographic charter. It carried the same BR Lined Black Livery again on 17 April 2012 for another photographic charter, this time though with the later "ferret and dartboard" crest. It returned to "Bluebell Black" in time for its visit to the National Railway Museum's "Railfest" in the first week of June 2012.[2] Stepney is now on static display at the Bluebell railway, awaiting new cylinders and work on the frames and boiler.
Father H. T. Brown built a 2-inch scale model of the A1X Stepney in 1954, which was exhibited at The Model Railway Exhibition, Westminster, London.[citation needed]
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