Our Locomotive – No. 1245 (Barclay)
No. 1245 worked at the Carron Iron Company, Falkirk until 1947, after which it was transferred National Coal Boards Bannockburn Colliery, where it continued to work until a major rebuild in 1959 at the Alloa Central Workshops.
In 1972, No. 1245 was retired and was later sold for scrap to Thomas Muir Metal Merchants, who moved it to their Thornton yard in Fife, with four other Andrew Barclay Locomotives.
It sat in storage until 2004, when the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway bought it for restoration, work on the locomotive took 19 months, it was painted in Caledonian Blue and steamed to Lakeside for the first time in 2005/06.
The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway
The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway is a 3.2 mile branch line that runs from Haverthwaite to Lakeside (next to Lake Windermere) via Newby Bridge. Some train services are timetabled to meet with departures of Boat journeys across the lake. It is also possible for you to buy tickets that join the train with a lake cruise, or the train with the aquarium.
The Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway is a former branch line of the Furness Railway, the line opened in 1869 and served Lakeside, Haverthwaite, and Newby Bridge with Ulverston and the mainline from Carnforth to Barrow in Furness. A normal weekday passenger service comprised of 8 trains in each direction. Unfortunately, The line closed to passengers in 1965 and to all traffic two years later.
The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway reopened as a heritage railway in May 1973 with restored LMS 2-6-4T No. 42073 and 42085 being the railways first steam locomotives. Since reopening, the railway has restored other locomotives, such as No. 1245 (Our locomotive for the day),and also Victor, along with other locos that are awaiting restoration / overhaul.
The railway has also featured in the popular TV Series and Book “Thomas & Friends” where the L&HR featured as the railway where ‘Victoria' used to work before coming to the island of Sodor.
- Visit the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway Website
For more information - View other Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway posts
Here on the RailAdvent website
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