Work starts at Tyseley in May 2025

May 2025 saw an important milestone for The Unknown Warrior. Tyseley Locomotive Works carried out their first work on our locomotive chassis reassembly, permanently securing the middle cylinder to the chassis using fitted bolts. Our locomotive chassis and all components were relocated to Tyseley in the winter of 2023-24 following the end of third party contract work by the Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust in July 2023, but a combination of workshop capacity and resource constraints had unavoidably prevented work from starting until now. The completion of unplanned work on Vintage Trains' own rolling stock and the departure of 71000 Duke of Gloucester from the workshop at the beginning of May after a successful overhaul has allowed attention to turn to No. 5551. Chair Colin Hall said: "We are delighted that work has started on The Unknown Warrior and do not underestimate the challenge faced by Tyseley in juggling their emerging priorities with the resources available to them. It has been well worth the wait".

The middle cylinder secured permanently to the frames. using fitted bolts individually machined to size.