Here are some of the notable locomotives that either became part of our collection for a period of time, or just visited us for one of our popular events.
Past residents and visitors
Kestrel
HS4000, named Kestrel, was a prototype high-powered mainline diesel locomotive built in 1967 by Brush Traction, Loughborough as a technology demonstrator for potential future British Rail and export orders. The locomotive number is a combination of the initials of the owner of Brush Hawker Siddeley and the power rating of its Sulzer diesel engine (4000 HP).
It was of Co-Co wheel arrangement and was fitted with a Sulzer 16LVA24 engine rated at 4,000 horsepower (3,000 kW) providing a maximum speed of 125 mph (201 km/h) and weighed 133 tonnes. It was painted in a livery of yellow ochre with a broad chocolate-brown band around the lower bodyside separated by a thin white line running around the body.
Barrow Hill Open Day 1971
Ivatt Atlantic 251
The C1 Class, as it was known under both GNR & LNER classifications, was designed by Henry A. Ivatt as an enlarged version of what became the LNER C2 Class. The principle of the design was to produce a powerful, free-steaming engine to haul the fastest and heaviest express trains on the Great Northern. They could thus be seen as the start of the East Coast 'Big Engine' policy. None were ever named.
Now at Locomotion, The National Railway Museum at Shildon
18000 gas turbine
Barrow Hill Roundhouse 2008
L.N.E.R. Class A2 Blue Peter
The L.N.E.R. named many express locomotives after classic horserace winners. “Blue Peter” was named when built in that tradition. The horse won the “Derby” and the 2000 Guinea in 1939 and was owned by Lord Rosebery. The engine was allocated to York when new and later transferred to Scotland being withdrawn from Aberdeen in 1966.
Geoff Drury had purchased LNER Class A4 4464 Bittern from British Rail in 1966. After her failure in 1968 he tried to buy an A1, but after the last one was cut up he was offered and purchased 60532 in 1968.
After preservation 60532 was the subject of a campaign for its restoration on the BBC Television series Blue Peter, and the locomotive has subsequently featured several times in the programme. Restoration was undertaken at York, Leeds and Doncaster Works where it was repainted in LNER apple green livery as No 532. 60,000 people witnessed its renaming by the BBC Blue Peter programme presenters at a Doncaster Works Open Day in 1971.
Steam Locomotive, London Midland & Scottish Railway, 2-6-4T No 2500, designed by William Stanier, built at Derby in 1934, withdrawn in 1961
LMS Stanier Class 4P 3-Cylinder 2-6-4T is a class of steam locomotive designed for work over the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. All 37 were built in 1934 at Derby Works and were numbered 2500–2536. The third cylinder was provided to allow increased acceleration between the many stops on the L.T.&S.R. line. From 1935 the LMS switched to constructing a very similar, simpler, 2-cylinder design.
No. 2500 was the first of the 37 express passenger tank locomotives designed specifically for the London Tilbury and Southend line of the London Midland & Scottish railway (LMS) as they were too powerful for mixed-traffic work. It was built in 1934 at LMS Crewe works.
P4 Tank 2500
2500 arrived with us the last week in February 2015 and is on long term loan from the National Railway Museum.
British Rail 18000 was a prototype mainline gas turbine-electric locomotive built for British Railways in 1949 by Brown, Boveri & Cie.
GWR chose a gas-turbine locomotive because, at the time, there was no single-unit diesel locomotive of sufficient power available. The King class steam locomotive could deliver about 2,500 horsepower (1,900 kW) at the rail. The LMS diesel locomotives had engines of only 1,600 hp (1,200 kW). After allowing for transmission losses, this would be down to about 1,300 hp (970 kW) at the rail, so two diesels would be needed to match a King.
No. 18000 was of A1A-A1A wheel arrangement and its gas turbine was rated at 2,500 hp (1,900 kW). It had a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) and weighed 115 long tons (117 t). It was originally painted in BR black livery, with a silver stripe around the middle of the body and silver numbers