Very few crane tanks were built after 1910, but in 1942 Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co revived one of their 19th century designs at the request of the Clyde Alloy Steel Company, a subsidiary of Colvilles, of Craigneuk Works, Motherwell.
Typical of crane tank designs once common in steelworks, where a combined shunting locomotive and mobile steam crane was useful for handling furnace scrap, this was Barclay’s second last such locomotive. It was fitted with a steam-driven turbo-generator, which powered an electro-magnet for lifting and moving scrap.
In their day, crane tank locomotives were also used in shipyards, where the electro-magnet was useful in handling steel plates.
When the works in Motherwell closed, the locomotive was moved in 1953 to Colvilles’ Glengarnock Steelworks in Ayrshire, which produced railway rails. There it was rebuilt with no electromagnet, and became Glengarnock No.6. It has been externally restored, and the crane motions are operational.
The locomotive was donated by Colvilles’ successors, the British Steel Corporation to the Scottish Railway Preservation Society in 1978. The locomotive is based on the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway where it is on static display.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 