ANDREW BARCLAY 18in 0-6-0T No. 1245/1911
Nearly all railway enthusiasts will be familiar with the rows of rusting locomotives that made Dai Woodham’s yard in Barry, South Wales one of Britain’s most famous scrapyards. It’s fascinating to see the rusting hulks that preservationists have lovingly restored, particularly main line favourites such as Duke of Gloucester, King Edward I and Leander. The last locomotive, GWR ‘Small Prairie’ No. 5553, left Barry in January 1990 after nearly 30 years of rusting away. It was restored to working order in 2002, whereas Woodham’s yard is now just a memory, buried under housing and a supermarket.
But, incredibly, there is still a scrapyard in Britain with unrestored steam locomotives in it.
The Fife town of Kirkcaldy is over 400 miles away from Barry but, as Google Earth will reveal, there are four Andrew Barclay 0‑4‑0STS tucked away in the corner of Thomas Muir (Metals) Ltd. The oldest is No. 946 of 1902 and it resides there with No. 1069/1906, No. 1807/1929 and
No. 2262/1949.
Muir’s took advantage of the run-down of the Fife collieries, particularly those linked by the
Wemyss Private Railway, to buy ten locomotives for scrap. But unlike Dai Woodham, who scrapped hundreds of locomotives, all ten Thomas Muir locomotives survive. Muir’s yard at Easter Balbeggie, near Thornton, soon took on the moniker of the ‘Barry of Scotland’.
Wemyss Private Railway 0‑6‑0ST No. 16 and Hunslet 0‑6‑0ST No. 3809 were early escapees and it took until the early 2000s for a rush of transactions to take place. By this time, the remaining locomotives at Easter Balbeggie had moved to Kirkcaldy.
Those sold into preservation included a rare Grant Ritchie 0‑4‑0ST (No. 272 of 1894) plus a former Wemyss Private Railway locomotive, Barclay‑built ‘Austerity’ No. 15. Only the four Barclays that still remain in Kirkcaldy didn’t find buyers.
One other locomotive that was saved for preservation was Andrew Barclay 18in 0‑6‑0T No. 1245 of 1911. It was built for the Carron Iron Company’s Falkirk works and became part of the NCB’S Fife fleet. It was withdrawn in 1972 and languished until 2004 when it was bought by the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway.
It may have been out of use for over 30 years, but it took the railway just 19 months to return it to full working order. No. 1245’s Thomas stint has been brief, but it’s been a stalwart performer on the Lake District line ever since.