Behind the face… the real ‘Thomases’
Creating industrial locomotives from Thomas models is one thing. But what about the real industrials that now run as Thomas? Richard Foster investigates.
US toy conglomerate Mattel keeps tight control over the Thomas brand and, consequently, there are only a handful of officially licensed Thomases running in the UK. The public might see these locomotives only as Thomas, but scratch beneath the bright blue surface and you’ll discover some rather historically significant machines. Here’s the story of some of the real Thomases.
NEILSON Reid 0-6-0T No. 5710/1899
Glasgow was like any big Victorian industrial city. It was a seething melting pot of locomotive builders, with constant rifts and mergers.
Our oldest Thomas was built by Neilson Reid in 1899.
By that year, the company had been through six name changes since its foundation in
1836. James Reid left as an employee and returned as a partner. He became owner when Walter Neilson left to form the Clyde Locomotive Company, which was subsequently taken over by Sharp Stewart.
This state of affairs came to an end in 1903 when Neilson Reid merged with Dübs and Sharp Stewart to form the locomotive building powerhouse North British Locomotive Company. Consequently, Lord Roberts is one of two industrial locomotives with Neilson Reid builder’s plates to survive.
Lord Roberts tells further stories. Firstly, it was built for stock; that is, once it was built, it was kept in store until a suitable buyer came along.
That took until 1902, when the Coltness Iron Company came to see what Neilson Reid might have suitable for working its trains across the main line. Here’s the second story. Classifying a locomotive ‘industrial’ doesn’t just mean that it was destined to work in a colliery lugging wagons around. Some collieries had their own ‘main lines’ with passenger trains and signals, whereas others, such as CIC, ran trains across main line tracks. Lord Roberts was destined for the latter role. And that’s why it has extra lamp irons to cater for Caledonian Railway lamp codes.
As built, Lord Roberts didn’t have a rear coal bunker. Coltness wanted one and so Lord Roberts was taken into the works, the main frames were extended and a bunker fitted.
The locomotive served Coltness Iron Company until it became part of the National Coal Board in 1946. No. 5170 started to move around NCB’S Areas from the mid-1950s. It was even fitted with electric lights when Bedlay Colliery, in North Lanarkshire, was working
24 hours a day.
This venerable survivor was finally retired in September 1968 and donated to the Scottish Railway Preservation Society.