This locomotive was built by Andrew Barclay in 1934 and initially operated as No.9 with Edinburgh Collieries Ltd’s Fleets Colliery near Tranent which is a few miles east of Edinburgh. Upon the creation of the National Coal Board in 1947 the locomotive became No 15.
The engine was somewhat nomadic and worked at various collieries in the East and Midlothian coalfields throughout its life. After a spell at NCB’s Niddrie shed in Edinburgh it went to Limeylands Colliery mear Ormiston in East Lothian in 1954. It worked at Lieylands for the last few years of operation of the mine before moving to Meadowhill Colliery around 1959. The following year it moved to Arniston Colliery where it is believed to have been based until the colliery closed in 1962.
In 1962 it was recorded as being at Newbattle Central Workshops at Lady Victoria Colliery (now the National Mining Museum of Scotland) and worked at the mine until 1965 when it was transferred to its final base of Bilston Glen near Loanhead in Midlothian.
Bilston Glen Colliery in Midlothian was to the south of Edinburgh and was one of the National Coal Board’s (NCB) most successful superpit developments. It was designed to go much deeper than neighbouring mines into the Midlothian coalfield basin, exploiting the limestone coals, with an intended output of 1 million tons per annum. Work started on the pit in 1952 and production of coal commenced in 1963. Bilston Glen witnessed some of the most bitter scenes of unrest in Scotland during the miners strike of 1984. The colliery closed in 1988.
At Bilston the locomotive acquired the number 29. By the early 1970s the locomotive was out of service and dumped in the headshunt at the colliery.
The move to being placed on display in Dunfermline followed a request from the Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial life who wished to take Gibb & the Hogg locomotive (Works no 16) that was on display at Pittencrieff park and have it as part of their collection. This was agreed with Fife Council on the basis that Summerlee provide a suitable replacement.
The replacement was Andrew Barclay 1996 which then spent many years on display in Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline following its arrival there in 1989. It was removed from the park in the 2011 to allow work on the park to be undertaken. The park’s £1.6million transformation was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund with matching support from the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust and Fife Council.
The locomotive was refurbished at a cost of £23,000 by Shed 47 Railway Restoration Group at the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum in Lathalmond. The work entailed cleaning with a pressure washer, welding repairs to the tank, and sealing up the smokebox and funnel to prevent a recurrence of it being used as a receptacle for lemonade cans and bottles.
The locomotive is now back on display in Pittencrieff Park in Dunfermline as East Fife Coal No 29.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 