Cadbury World, which is on the site of the Cadbury factory at Bournville in Birmingham, has donated one of the locomotives that used to work at the factory to the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Museum (GRCWM).
The loco is Cadbury No.14, and it is currently on display as a static exhibit in the car park at Cadbury World. GRCWM is now seeking to raise the necessary funds (approximately £8,000) to transport No.14 to a secure facility.
The funds will also pay for the initial overhaul of the locomotive and shipping the original Gardner engine to a specialist restoration and workshop facility. There, a full inspection and list of required work will be drawn up for the loco to be upgraded to make it suitable for use on a heritage railway and for a vacuum braking system to be fitted.
The intention is that for the first year it will remain in its ex-service form. A full repaint into its original Cadbury livery, for which permission has already been granted, and with new lining, etc. will be carried out in the following year .
Cadbury No.14 was built by Hudswell Clarke to Works Number D1012 with a Gardner 107HP 6LW diesel mechanical engine in August 1955. It has 3ft wheels, weighs 20 tons, a top speed of 14mph and could haul loads of up to 200 tons. In September 1956 it went to work at the Cadbury's Moreton factory in the Wirral until its retirement in 1977 when it went to the Llangollen Railway. At the Llangollen Railway it was operational until 1979. It last record of being at the Llangollen Railway was in 2002.
9th March 2003 it went to Cadbury World where it was put on display at the entrance until 9th May 2006, when it returned to Premier Brands Ltd, at Moreton. It was returned to Cadbury World's car park once again in February 2007. In 2008 No.14 spent a short period at Tyseley before returning once more to Cadbury World's car park where it has been on display ever since. Cadbury World donated it to GRCWM in 2019/20.
The museum now needs to raise a further £4,179 towards the cost of transporting the loco from Bournville, and and have just a few days left to do this. GRCWM would welcome donations large or small via their main fundraising page on Crowdfunder. Other ways of donating can be found on the GRCWM Facebook Page.
If you would like to Gift Aid your donation please use the Gift Aid form here.
Donation Benefits include:
Driver Experience once the locomotive is operational;
- Footplate ride;
- Quarterly Magazine;
- Regular updates of the restoration;
- Invitations to view the restoration work as we progresses;
- Volunteering your time to help with the restoration;
- Invitation to the official commissioning of the locomotive;
- Decorated Certificate and much more…
