• Three locomotives bring total to 11 for ‘Railway 200’ celebration • Two tiny industrial locomotives of mid-Victorian origin • A wartime locomotive that saw military service
27 April 2025: The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) announces the final three guest locomotives for the Cotswold Festival of Steam (24-26 May). All three are types of historical importance, illustrating the vital role steam locomotives played in industry and the military.
Two of the three date back to the earliest days of railways and are to an 1866 design by James Cross, one built by Borrows of Sutton, St. Helens and the other by Kerr Stuart. 1866 was just ten years after the engine we know as ‘Locomotion No. 1’, which hauled the first commercial passenger train on the Stockton & Darlington Railway, was identified as worthy of preservation.
The third is Andrew Goodman’s freshly-overhauled Austerity saddle tank, appearing as Wemyss Private Railway No. 15 'Earl David’, one of just 13 of the nearly 500 examples of this ubiquitous War Department and industrial workhorse designed by Hunslet, built by Andrew Barclay of Kilmarnock.
1906 Borrows 0-4-0WT works no. 48 ‘The King’, and
1918 Borrows / Kerr-Stuart 0-4-0WT works no. 3063, informally known as ‘Willy the Well Tank’
Visiting by courtesy of Bill and Dick Parker of The Flour Mill; ‘Willy’ being normally based on the Swindon & Cricklade Railway
Both locomotives are to a quite primitive 1866 James Cross & Co design, that company building just two locomotives. Edward Borrows & Sons of Providence Works at Sutton, St. Helens in Lancashire, an iron and brass foundry, then took over the design when it ventured into building small industrial tank locomotives in 1872. The company, which was subsequently taken over by H W Johnson & Co, produced around 60 locomotives (and some steam rollers) until 1921, ‘The King’ being completed in 1906. Following Borrows’ death, Kerr Stuart & Co also built about 17 more almost identical locomotives. All were for industrial service, mainly at Pilkington and United Glass, and Brunner Mond (later ICI) in the St. Helens area.
‘The King’ was delivered new to the United Glass factory at St. Helens, later being transferred to the company’s Charlton works in London, soldiering on until 1967. ‘Willy’ was delivered new in 1918 to the National Shipyard at Beachley, near Chepstow – a locomotive design that was already 50 years old! It was withdrawn from the Fairfield Mabey shipyard in the 1970s. Characteristics of these short wheelbase locomotives are the high domed boiler unobstructed by side tanks and the Stephenson valve gear mounted between the frames and the driving wheels. The frames also serve as the sides of the well tank.
This is the first time that both locomotives have worked in steam together and they beautifully represent the reason why steam locomotives were invented: to take over from horses handling goods and minerals. Being of mid-Victorian origin, these delightful engines perfectly fit the ‘Railway 200’ theme. You can see both locomotives shunting at Winchcombe during the event and they will also haul a short early-morning passenger train from Toddington to Winchcombe each day.
Andrew Barclay ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST no. 15 Earl David (works no. 2183)
Built 1943, visiting by courtesy Andrew Goodman of Railway Support Services
Freshly overhauled at The Flour Mill works, No. 15 is an example of the numerous Hunslet-designed ‘Austerity’ locomotives introduced in 1943 specifically for the War Department. Large numbers were needed and Hunslet subcontracted some of the construction to other builders and No. 15 is one of just 13 built by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co in Kilmarnock and one of just three surviving from this builder. In all, 485 ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0STs were completed, of which 377 were delivered to the War Department. Production continued after the war for the National Coal Board and other industrial users. Many no longer required by the Army were sold into industrial use, while 75 went to the LNER to become class J94.
No. 15 was one of those delivered to the War Department as no. 71529 at Longtown, near Carlisle. In 1959, it was sold to EG Steels of Hamilton and in 1964, it went to the Wemyss Private Railway (WPR) in Scotland, whose distinctive livery it now carries. The WPR, which served several collieries in Fife, finally closed with the last colliery in 1970. No. 15 was sold to T Muir’s scrapyard at Kirkcaldy, where it remained until 2003, when bought by Andrew Goodman. It returned to steam on the GWSR in December 2007 and the following year, was named Earl David by the Earl of Wemyss & March, who lives at nearby Stanway House and whose family owned the WPR. Earl David was the current Earl’s grandfather, the originator of WPR. The locomotive has worked on various heritage railways, latterly stored at the formative Berkeley Railway at Sharpness, where some restoration work was carried out before moving to The Flour Mill for completion.
