ASPINALL CLASS ‘21’ (‘PUG’) 0-4-0ST No. 51218 (LYR No. 68)

As the 20th century gave way to the 21st, this tiny machine was the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway star of the preservation world. Popping up at preserved lines and industrial locations across the country, it was performing for the cameras at photo charters everywhere from Bristol Docks to Workington steelworks, often recreating cameo scenes from the class’ history.

At its Keighley & Worth Valley Railway home, it holds special significance as the first locomotive to arrive at the line in preservation. Withdrawn far from ‘Lanky’ territory in South

Wales it was rescued by the L&Y Saddletanks Fund (now the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Trust) and delivered to the KWVR on a Pickfords low-loader on January 7 1965.

As well as shouldering the burden of the first works trains, it was hired out for brake van tours on BR metals and for industrial use in the late 1960s, and took part in the ‘Stockton & Darlington 150’ celebrations in 1975. Following a long spell on static display in

Oxenhope museum, it returned to steam in 1997 in time to celebrate its centenary.

It was withdrawn again in 2006, but received a cosmetic restoration in 2018 to celebrate the KWVR’s 50th anniversary; as reported in News, it is set to be the trust’s next overhaul project now that 0-6-0ST No. 752 is completed, with a boiler inspection due to take place this year.

Richard Greenwood of the LYR Trust said that it is known to be “mechanically quite worn – it happens when an engine has such little wheels! – and of course it will need boiler work.”