‘MECH NAVVIES’ FIRST IN LINE FOR KWVR ‘LITTLE ENGINES’ WEEKEND

‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No. 71515 ‘Mech Navvies’ is the first visiting locomotive announced for the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s first ‘Little Engines’ gala. The Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns locomotive will be making the trip from its Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway base for the July 7-9 event. Built in 1945, the locomotive’s last base in industry was the Swalwell opencast disposal point in Gateshead, operated by contractors Mechanical Navvies Ltd, whose livery it now wears. Among the Worth Valley’s smaller locomotives currently available for traffic is Bahamas Locomotive Society-owned Hudswell Clarke ‘Cornist’ class 0-6-0T Nunlow.

on its last trip away from Wales, ‘Austerity’ 0‑6‑0St No. 71515 ‘Mech Navvies’ hauls a coal train at the tanfield railway on June 20 2015. ANDREW DENNISON