Stephenson-built Twizell handed to heritage line
Historic locomotive gift for heritage railway. Tony Henderson reports
The oldest working locomotive in Britain to be built by the famous Newcastle firm of Robert Stephenson has been gifted to a North East heritage railway.
Twizell, built by the Stephenson locomotive works in 1891, has been on loan to the Tanfield Railway from Beamish Museum.
Now the museum has handed over Twizell to Tanfield, along with a rare surviving locomotive from the North East steel industry.
Twizell has recently undergone a £100,000 overhaul and is in full working order. It was employed hauling coal trains for North East colliery owner James Joicey’s pits in County Durham before being saved for preservation in the early 1970s.
To celebrate the ownership transfer, Twizell will be one of the locomotives starring in Tanfield’s end-of-season gala this weekend (October 18–19) alongside the railway’s other four operating steam locomotives and three diesel locomotives.
The second locomotive to be passed over to the Tanfield Railway is Malleable No. 5, which was built for the South Durham Steel and Iron Company in 1873.
Malleable No. 5 was so named because it worked at the company’s Malleable Iron Works in Stockton-on-Tees. The four-wheeled saddle tank locomotive worked in Stockton for its whole commercial career before being preserved by Beamish Museum in the 1970s.
Malleable No. 5 was initially stored by Beamish at Marley Hill engine shed in Gateshead, which is now the headquarters of the Tanfield Railway. It was restored by volunteers at Marley Hill, becoming the first locomotive to run there when the shed was saved from demolition.
It later moved to Beamish and hasn’t been in operating condition for many years. Once Malleable No. 5 is back at Tanfield, it will be fully assessed and cosmetically restored.
To complete the transfers, three vintage coal hoppers that have been stored at Tanfield will also be formally handed over.
Derek Smith, chairman of Tanfield Railway Trust, said: “The Tanfield Railway was created to showcase the history of the North East’s industrial railways.
“To secure both locomotives is a massive boost, but to do so in the year we celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Tanfield Railway is really special. We’re really grateful to Beamish for entrusting the future of these vehicles to us.”
Paul Jarman, director of development – transport, industry and design at Beamish Museum, said: “Working in partnership with those who have common goals only serves to enrich our heritage and ensure that it can be enjoyed, educate and retain those established links to our past that are so important to the region.
“Twizell and Malleable have secure futures with the Tanfield Railway, and it is a recognition that it is a healthy process for museums to review and reassess their collections and the artefacts within them.”
The transfers from Beamish follow an asset review by the Tanfield Railway to focus more closely on items most relevant to North East industrial railways.