Picture from Andy Savage Railway Heritage Trust

Memorials, which have stood for over 170 years in St John’s Church Graveyard in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire marking the deaths of Thomas Scaife and Joseph Rutherford have been restored.

They died in 1840 when the boiler of the locomotive they were working on in a yard at the foot of the famous Lickey Incline exploded. The accident led to the formation of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME).

They were originally laid to rest with simple tombstones but in 1841 Mr Rutherford’s widow had a larger memorial made. Mr Scaife’s colleagues then raised money to have a similar gravestone made for him, inscribed with a poem which has become folklore among railway enthusiasts.

After they had fallen into a state of disrepair, the Church Fabric Committee of St John’s Church raised £10,000 to have them repaired. The money was collected with the support of the Railway Heritage Trust, the Bromsgrove Society, the IME, the railway trade union ASLEF, Cross Country, DB Schenker and others.

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