A GoFundMe page has been set up by the North West Transport Museum to help bring steam locomotive No.737 Daphne home.
The page is trying to raise funds that are needed to hire a transporter and crane. These are both needed to get the locomotive to her new home of the North West Transport Museum in St Helens.
Daphne is currently at the Ribble Steam Railway, in Preston, so the transporter is needed for the journey across Lancashire.
The GoFundMe page is looking for £3,000 for the costs and can be found by clicking here.
A brief history of Daphne
No.737 Daphne was built by Peckett & Sons in 1899 as a W4 locomotive. It was purchased by the Tytherington Stone Company for use at the Church Quarry which was connected to the Thornbury Branch, which is north of Bristol.
By the early 1900s, the quarry sending 60 trucks full to Avonmouth every weekend. The locomotive was named Daphne after the Squire’s eldest daughter.
In 1923, Daphne was sold to Pilkington Brothers for use at the Ravenhead Works. The locomotive stayed here for the rest of its working life.
Preservation started with Daphne being in a children’s playground at Skelmersdale and then at Lytham St Annes. In 2002, the locomotive moved to the Ribble Steam Railway, at this time, it was in reasonable condition but had suffered mechanical damage after decades in the elements. It was one of the few exhibits at the Ribble Steam Railway that was under cover.
The plan here was for the Ribble Steam Railway to use the locomotive for spares, but in January 2018, the railway made the locomotive available for sale to anyone wanting to restore it. Daphne was donated to the North West Transport Museum in St Helens in May 2018, and the plan is to move her in September or October 2018.
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What a sad story all this surely a natural home for this engine would be the Vale of Berkley Railway close to the first home of Daphne. Also the docks at Sharpness where VOB are based had a similar locomotive on the Dock Railway. I keep seeing posts from VOB posts looking for such a Peckett. They have the engineering capacity I believe.
With Hornby turning out ready-to-run models of the Peckett W4 in a variety of names/numbers/liveries, one would like to think that they [Simon Kohler] might be interested in featuring this one as say a Limited Edition at an enhanced price with some of the proceeds going towards the Museum. Alternatively, Hattons or another retailer to do a special run?
They are producing Daphne in 00 gauge. It will be in the wrong livery as maroon was applied after Pilkington Brothers of St Helens gave her away. Pilkington’s corporate colour for locomotives was mid to dark green and Pecketts supplied the loco to in their standard Peckett green to the Tytherington Stone Coy.