This is one of a pair of class W7 locomotives built by Peckett & Sons in 1951 for CWS Soap Works near Irlam. Both Works no 2130 and 2131 have been preserved. There they joined another Peckett locomotive Works No 1530 which was delivered to CWS in 1919 and which has also been preserved.
The CWS site had railway connections to the Cheshire Lines Committee railway which was the second-largest joint railway in Britain and served many major centres in the north including Liverpool and Manchester. The railway was also connected to the extensive Manchester Ship Canal Railway as well as having its own wharf.
CWS owned rolling stock as well as locomotives and for many years ran a twice-daily service for the work force to coincide with main line train arrivals and departures at Irlam station. The service used an ex-Midland Railways six-wheel carriage, hauled by a Peckett locomotive. The carriage has since been restored and is on display in York Railway Museum.
After the line at Irlam closed in 1966 2130 and 2131 were sold to work at Fort Dunlop in Birmingham where they became Dunlop No 6 and No 7.
The Dunlop Rubber Co. Ltd. established their works on a 40 acre site purchased from the Birmingham Tame and Rea District Drainage Board in 1916. A connection was made with the Midland Railway Birmingham to Derby Line at the east end of Bromford Bridge Station and several locomotives were employed to move the raw materials required for tyre manufacture and coal for the boiler plant. The company changed name to Dunlop Co Ltd in December 1966 and in 1985 the site was split up into the different organisational divisions and then disposed of.
Both locomotives worked at Fort Dunlop until they were disposed of in 1971 when they were bought by Mr A Hunt for preservation and moved to his mineral water factory at Hinckley for storage.
In 1974 2131 was purchased by Henry Williams of Gresford, who was a Cambrian Railway Society official. It was moved to the Cambrian Railway at Oswestry and was later acquired by the Cambrian Railway Society.
The locomotive was given the name Oliver Veltom in honour of the British Railways Oswestry Area Manager, who was instrumental in ensuring the survival of a number of artefacts.
The locomotive provided brake van rides on the Oswestry Light Railway until the boiler certificate expired in 2001. It has since been dismantled and a ten year overhaul commenced.
Now known as the Cambrian Heritage Railway where the locomotive was still undergoing an overhaul in the summer of 2020.
The overhaul was still underway in June 2022.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 