Avonside Engine Co Works No 1680   Sir John 0-6-0ST

AE1680-Mountain-Ash-June 1972.jpg

This locomotive was built by Avonside Engine Company in 1914 as a class B3 0-6-0ST.

Between 1906 and 1926 59 locomotives were built to this design. Of these 26 operated on the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board Railway at Liverpool.

Sir John was employed in the coalfields where it was withdrawn from service in the early 1970s whilst based at Mountain Ash Colliery in South Wales.

It moved into preservation in May 1981.

The locomotive was stored by the Taff Vale Railway Society at British steel Dowlais Foundry until December 1987 when it moved to The Vale of Neath Railway Society at Abergarwed. Both proved to be failed preservation projects.

It has since been preserved on the Gwili Railway where it arrived in the summer of 1994.

In 2011 the locomotive was moved to the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway under the ownership of the Vale of Neath Railway Society.

In 2015 a 99 year lease agreement was agreed with the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway that included the restoration of the locomotive.

1680 at Mountain Ash – c1961
AB 2074 in front of 1680 at NCB Mountain Ash – circa 1967
1680 at NCB Mountain Ash Colliery – circa 1967
1680 at Mountain Ash – April 1967
1680 which was based at NCB Mountain Ash in front of Deep Dyffryn colliery – 1968
1680 at Deep Dyffryn, Mountain Ash – October 1968
7754 taking wagons from Mountain Ash to Abergorki Colliery passing Avonside 1680 – January 1971
1680 at Mountain Ash – 1971
AE1680-Mountain-Ash-June 1972.jpg
1680-Mountain-Ash-June 1972
1680 dumped at Deep Navigation on the Muntain Ash system – April 1975
1680 at Mountain Ash – 1977
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1680 on the left at the Vale of Neath Railway Society at Abergarwed. On the right is AE 2008 which was cut up for scrap in 1990 – Sept 1989
1680 at Bronwydd Arms on the Gwilli Railway – February 2012
Avonside 1680 Pontypool & Blaenavon Rly May 2018.jpg
1680 at the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway – May 2018


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