A 145-year-old steam locomotive has arrived at the Isle of Wight Steam Railway from Penrhyn Castle Museum in Wales.
The locomotive Haydock has been gifted to the railway by the National Trust and crossed via the Wightlink ferry after being transported 300 miles from Bangor by the stars of Channel 5’s Trucking Heavy.
Built by Robert Stephenson in 1879, it was initially a contractor’s locomotive, known to have been utilised on a North Eastern Railway construction contract around 1903.
It was later used to shunt timber wharf on the Manchester ship canal at Acton Grange, as well as in the collieries at St Helens.
Haydock was passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 and, from 1952, remained working at Acton Grange until rail operations ceased in 1963.
It was stored at the NCB Central Workshops at St Helens from 1963 until 1966 when presented to the National Trust and taken to Penrhyn Castle.
The locomotive will go on static public display in the IW Steam Railway’s Train Story exhibition centre at Havenstreet.
The intention is to cosmetically return it to as-build condition and painted as Freshwater.
Peter Taylor, chair of the IW Steam Railway, said. “We are extremely grateful to the National Trust for placing Haydock in our care where the locomotive will further enhance our collection for the benefit of the wider community.”
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