Tanfield celebrates forgotten diesel pioneers
Events highlight the North East’s role in early diesel and electric railway innovation. Tony Henderson reports
While the spotlight is on the 200th anniversary of the opening of the North East’s steam locomotive railway which changed the world, the region’s role as a leader in the early development of diesel and electric engines will also be celebrated.
The bicentenary of the Stockton and Darlington railway, opened on September 27 1825, will be the centre of attention.
But a century later Armstrong Whitworth’s Scotswood works in Newcastle was exploring the potential of diesel-electric rail vehicles.
In 1933 the Scotswood works built a batch of six diesel shunting locomotives. One was sold in 1937 to the Reyrolle factory in Hebburn, where it spent its entire working life until being bought by Shepherd’s scrapyard in Byker.
But instead of being cut up it was used as a shunter in the yard and was preserved in 1978.
Now the Tanfield Railway, located between Gateshead and County Durham and where Reyrolle No. 2 is permanently based, will stage the ‘Diesel Pioneers’ event this weekend (September 20–21).
Reyrolle will be joined by Myfanwy, which was completed by the firm of Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns in Darlington. But in an unusual twist, the construction had actually been started 175 miles away in Staffordshire.
Work was begun on Myfanwy and two identical locomotives by the Stafford-based locomotive builder W.G. Bagnall. But shortly afterwards the firm stopped building locomotives.
Instead the parts that had already been finished were packaged up and sent to Darlington, where the three locomotives were assembled.
When new, Myfanwy was delivered to the Royal Ordnance Factory at Pembrey in South Wales and is now making a return to the region where it was built to star in the Tanfield event.
Tanfield Railway general manager David Watchman said: “The North East pioneered commercial locomotive building. During 140 years or so the region built engines of all different shapes and sizes for railways across the globe.
“Everyone knows the North East played a pioneering role with steam locomotives, but the region also had a massive part to play in the early development of diesel and electric railway locomotives too.
“We’re here to celebrate the North East’s railway history, so it’s great to be able to tell Myfanwy’s story here in the North East where it was actually built.”
Myfanwy is normally based at the Foxfield Railway in Staffordshire. It underwent restoration to original condition which was completed in 2019.