Efficient’ was built at the Caledonia works of Andrew Barclay & Sons in Kilmarnock in 1918. It is a standard Barclay saddle tank with 14″ x 22″ cylinders and 3′ 5″ driving wheels. Painted in the Kilmarnock firms usual green lined livery and lettering, it spent all of its working life at McKechnie Brothers’ copper smelting works at Widnes. It shared the duties there with a smaller Barclay engine named Economic, which was scrapped in 1955.
When no longer required at the copper works Efficient was purchased by the Liverpool Locomotive Preservation Group and moved to Seacombe in July 1969.
From there, it worked the two Docker railtours in 1971 and 1972, double-headed with Avonside locomotive Lucy. Efficient moved to Southport in July 1973, where it had the distinction of being the first steam locomotive to enter the newly formed museum. It was fitted with a new inner firebox in 1981, and was a regular performer at Steamport Southport until the late 1990’s when the site closed, eventually arriving at the Ribble Steam Railway at Preston in July 1999. Efficient’s last public steaming was in April 2000 when it took part in the closing celebrations at Shelton Steelworks in Stoke.
When an investigation of the locomotive was undertaken in 2005 it was found that the boiler required extensive work before it could be returned to steam again.
The locomotive is now on static display at the Ribble Steam Railway.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 