BON ACCORD MAKES ITS FIRST TRIP ACROSS THE BORDER
Former Aberdeen Corporation Gas Works Barclay 0‑4‑0ST Bon Accord has made its first ever trip across the Scottish border since construction in 1897. The 12in‑cylindered locomotive with its tramway style skirts starred in the September 17/18 autumn gala at the National Railway Museum’s Locomotion site in Shildon. Bon Accord has only recently returned to action at the Royal Deeside Railway, and this summer has been the first time it has regularly worked trains since being replaced by a diesel at its Aberdeen home in 1964. Immaculately turned out, W/No. 807 proved a major draw at the Shildon event. It was appropriately joined by another gas works locomotive, Tanfield Railway‑ based Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns 0‑4‑0ST Sir Cecil A. Cochrane. Also in the line‑up was fellow RSH product Agecroft No. 1. The two Newcastle‑built locomotives were both constructed in 1948 and could very well have met each other in Forth Banks works, being only a handful of works numbers apart. The visit of Agecroft No. 1 from the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry was also the first time that the locomotive had returned to the North East since being completed in works livery. Furness Railway 0‑4‑0 No. 20, also a one‑time industrial workhorse, provided the final item of motive power. It is on long‑ term loan at Shildon and was on the brake van shuttles at the east end while visitors took turns on the west end. Bon Accord is now set to stay in the North East for an extended period, with its next port of call being Beamish, for operation on passenger trains from the County Durham site’s North Eastern Railway station.