First engine at Arbroath attraction disappeared during war before turning up in Scandinavia

A piece of Angus railway history is on track to run again abroad.

Tibby was the first locomotive at Kerr’s Miniature Railway when it opened on Arbroath seafront in 1935, an attraction which has been a family favourite for generations and endures today under the control of its founder’s grandson.

Also known as Bonnie Dundee, the first engine was initially acquired by Matthew Kerr Sr to run at his railway at Balfield Farm, Dundee, the then-home of Kerr’s Dairy.

The collection moved to Angus soon after and although Tibby disappeared during the Second World War she re-emerged in Denmark and will be a steam star in a railway park owned by the enthusiast who discovered the loco on static display in a restaurant.

Tibby’s story has delighted John Kerr, who hopes the 85-year-old family success story which was facing a crunch year as Scotland’s oldest surviving miniature railway will also be able

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My father did get to see Tibby before he died in 2006 and it brought him to tears but it is great to learn that she will finally run again

to emerge from the pandemic with a positive future.

John, 24, said: “My grandad built a wider gauge railway when he came to Arbroath and Tibby disappeared.

“My father, Matthew Jr, had always wondered what happened to her and then, out of the blue, a visitor arrived at the railway and said to him that he thought he had our original locomotive.”

It had been in a railway-themed Danish restaurant, with a plaque on the loco the only indicator of its Scottish origins.

“My father did get to see Tibby before he died in 2006 and it brought him to tears but it is great to learn that she will finally run again,” said John.

The Danish enthusiast has now established his own park and Tibby is ready for service as the oldest loco in the fleet there.

John added: “We still have one of the original carriages at the railway, and the original guard’s van is in a private railway down south, but it is great to think Tibby will run again, 85 years on from first carrying passengers at Arbroath.

“It was looking awfully like this might have been the last year of the railway – we only carried 3,500 passengers last year. My feeling was to give it a really good go for the railway’s 85th year, but obviously the pandemic situation has meant we can’t run at all.

“As soon as guidelines allow, we will start running again and if it is to be the last year we will do our best to make it what we can.”

John Kerr at the controls at Arbroath seafront. He hopes to get the miniature railway up and running again as soon as pandemic guidelines allow it. Picture: Dougie Nicolson.