To supplement its fleet of steam locomotives, Cambrian Heritage Railways based at Oswestry in Shropshire has borrowed a unique 0—4-0 saddle tank steam locomotive from the Ribble Steam Railway & Museum
at Preston for all of this year's operating season.
The locomotive is number 272, and was the 14th loco built by Grant Ritchie at Kilmarnock in Scotland in 1894, and is the manufacturer's sole surviving 0-4-0 saddle tank.
Grant Ritchie was formed in 1876, following a disastrous fire at the Caledonia workshop of Andrew Barclay in Kilmarnock. Thomas Grant was Andrew Barclay's works manager.
He bought up a small engineering business in Kilmarnock where, together with another Barclay employee, William Ritchie, they set up in business together and started building steam locos just down the road from the Andrew Barclay works.
After completion by Grant Ritchie, No. 272's first owner was Kinglassie Colliery at Leslie in Fife, where it carried the running number 21. In 1949 it went to Cowdenbeath Central Workshops, then to Mary Colliery in Fife in 1951, back to Cowdenbeath in 1955, to Fordell Colliery in 1957 and moved to Rothes Colliery in 1966, where it spent its last working days.
On 25th November 1969 No. 272 was sent for scrap to Thomas Muir's scrapyard in Easter Balbeggie in Fife, but escaped its fate and over the years it was joined by a further ten Industrial steam locos, including Ribble Steam Railway's No.6 Andrew Barclay No 2261 which was restored by the Ribble Steam Railway.
No. 272's first appearance in traffic will be on Sunday, April 30th. The railway operates trains from Oswestry to Weston Wharf and runs every weekend from April until September, some mid-week and evenings, and on Bank Holidays.
Cambrian Heritage Railways General Manager, Andy Green, said: “We are grateful to Ribble Steam Railway And Museum for the loan of Grant Ritchie 272 for our new operating season which started in April.
“We operate a relatively small heritage railway operation, therefore this type of steam locomotive is an excellent addition to our fleet and I'm sure it will prove extremely popular with our visitors and staff.”
Further information about the railway can be found at www.CambrianRailways.com, and tickets can be booked online at https://cambrianrailways.com/chr/tickets/
