This locomotive was built by Hawthorn Leslie in 1915 to work at the rapidly expanding Buckminster Quarries operated by Holwell Iron Co. as part of the drive for home produced ore during war time. The delivery coincided with the opening in 1916 of the High Dyke mineral branch leaving the East Coast main line near stoke tunnel and eventually serving not only Buckminster Quarries but also Sproxton, Colsterworth and Easton Mines.
The locomotive was transferred to Glendon Quarries in 1928 and worked through a number of works visits until it became an early victim of the industry shrinkage.
In 1932 it was overhauled at Holwell works. Apart from a spell at nearby Glendon North quarry in 1955/56 , it spent the rest of its career at Glendon West.
It was given a full rebuild at the Corby Works in 1958 but four years later and still in full working order it was sent for scrap to Goodman Brothers in New Bradwell.
Here the locomotive resided and was often visited by enthusiasts. In the early 1980s it was recovered for an ill-fated restoration project in Slough where it was dismantled but very little restoration was undertaken
The locomotive returned to the East Midlands in October 2007 and was assessed for full restoration which it is planned to undertake at Rocks by Rail, the Living Ironstone Museum at Cottesmore. The restoration needed to address missing connecting rods as these were cut while in the scrap yard.
The locomotive subsequently moved to Peak Rail in January 2019 where its private owner intends to complete the challenging restoration work.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 