KNOTTY TRUST BUYS ROBERT HEATH RARITY
Unique 1886-built engine to be reunited with North Staffs coaches.
Unique surviving Robert Heath & Sons 0-4-0ST No. 6 has been acquired by the Knotty Coach Trust, for use with its North Staffordshire Railway coaches at the Foxfield Railway.
The trust completed the deal at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, but has only just revealed the details of the “favourable” purchase from private owners.
A copy of a Falcon-built locomotive acquired by Robert Heath & Sons, No. 6 was constructed at the firm’s Black Bull workshops for use on its own railway network near Stoke-onTrent. It was the first of a series of 0-4-0STs built by the company up to 1926, the workshops later turning their hand to an 0-6-0ST design too.
In 1912, an explosion at Robert Heath’s colliery in Norton led to workers being transported to Black Bull colliery to keep them in work. The company hired in a train of NSR four-wheeled carriages to form the trains, and one of the Robert Heath locomotives provided the power.
Although the identity of that locomotive is unknown, No. 6 is reckoned to be the only surviving locomotive that could have worked with the trust’s restored ‘Knotty’ carriages, other survivors of the NSR being freight engines.
After becoming National Coal Board property in 1947, No. 6 managed to partially evade the threat of dieselisation and was given a new boiler during the mid-1950s to act as standby. In 1967, it was moved to Shugborough Hall, and then to Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum in 1984. With the closure of the museum, a purchase and move to Foxfield was arranged in 1994. The locomotive last worked in 2008 when its boiler ticket expired.
Although no work can yet take place owing to the pandemic, the new custodians have established a plan to return the engine to action. The first steps have seen a £20,000 fundraising appeal launched, with a plan to have the locomotive cosmetically restored by autumn 2021. Thanks to generous donations from members of the Knotty Trust, the fund is already within £7,000 of its target and is now appealing to the wider public.
The eventual return to steam of No. 6 is known to require a new front tubeplate and springs. The biggest job is likely to be removal of the firebox to allow the replacement of the girder stays. No date has been set for a return to steam, but trustees expect the work to come in at a six-figure sum. Volunteers for the project are likely to come from the team currently completing the overhaul of Bagnall 0-4-0ST Hawarden.
The appeal is at https://gofundme. com/f/robert-heath-no6-appeal