ONCE-CONDEMNED HAWTHORN LESLIE NOW SET FOR REVIVAL

Rare 0-6-0ST sent to breakers in 1962 moves to Peak Rail for restoration.

Arare Hawthorn Leslie 0-6-0ST that was consigned to the scrapyard 57 years ago, reputedly in full working order, could steam at a new home in just a few years.

1915-built Holwell No. 14 is now based at Peak Rail, where its private owners intend to complete a challenging restoration after a move from Rocks by Rail.

First plucked from W. Goodman Brothers scrapyard in Buckinghamshire in the early 1980s, the 14in-cylindered machine had been resident at Cottesmore since 2007 after moving there following a fruitless restoration bid in Slough. The move to Peak Rail took place

earlier this year, but had not been publicly disclosed until now.

Among the challenges facing the new owners is the manufacture of a complete set of side rods for the former Buckminster quarry locomotive. The original rods did not survive its time in the scrapyard.

Holwell No. 14 (Hawthorn Leslie Works No. 3138) was ordered for an expansion of quarrying activity at Buckminster (which was connected to the Great Northern Railway High Dyke branch in Lincolnshire) during the First World

War, but moved in June 1928 to Glendon East quarry, which lay close to the former Midland Railway route to Kettering.

It received an overhaul at Holwell works in 1932, but apart from a spell at nearby Glendon North quarry in 1955/56, it spent the rest of its career at Glendon East.

Replaced by the larger Kitson 0-6-0ST Caerphilly in early 1962, Holwell No. 14 was quickly consigned to a siding by February before sale for scrap in August of the same year – despite reputedly being still in full working order.

It is one of just three Hawthorn Leslie 14in-cylindered 0-6-0STs

in preservation, and the only one never to have steamed.