A new book celebrating Britain’s oldest working steam locomotive – and film star celebrity – has been launched at an event in Cumbria, at a station it used to serve.
Furness Railway Locomotive No. 20 – The Story So Far has been written by Tim Owen, chair of the Furness and Lakes Line CRPs, and chair of the Furness Railway Trust, which has published the book.
Appropriately, the launch took place on 22 July at an original Furness Railway station – Kents Bank – where the locomotive, built in Manchester in 1863, would have frequently passed through.
The book tells the story of the locomotive from its early years operating mostly goods traffic on the Furness Railway in the Barrow area. In the 1860s and 1870s, the area was rich in iron ore deposits, and the railway was crucial to the industry’s development – exporting the iron and bringing in coke to fire the blast furnaces. Appropriately, when the locomotive became redundant to the Furness Railway, it had a ‘second life’ shunting in the huge Barrow Iron and Steel Works.
Eventually, No. 20 was retired as the Works brought in new diesel locos. It was donated to a children’s playground at George Hastwell School, Barrow, where for over twenty years local children enjoyed playing on the engine, pretending to be drivers!
In 1990, the locomotive was purchased by the Lakeside Railway Society, and the following year was passed on to the newly formed Furness Railway Trust. With help from what was then Vickers Shipyard (VSEL), the locomotive was restored to its original condition and first steamed in 1999.
Since then, the locomotive has operated at dozens of heritage railways around Britain and has starred in two major feature films – Possession and The Invisible Woman.
Author Tim Owen said: “The locomotive’s career has been nothing short of remarkable, having had a working life of 97 years. In the year that 200 years of Britain’s railways are being celebrated, No. 20 is still in great shape and was the star attraction at the recent ‘Greatest Gathering’ at the Alstom Locomotive Works in Derby, which was attended by over 30,000 people.”
Professor Paul Salveson, manager of Kents Bank Station Library, said: “We were delighted, and honoured, to host the launch of Tim’s book, on a working Furness Railway station which was opened the same year that No. 20 was built – 1863.”
The book is available to purchase from the Furness Railway Trust website for £6. Copies are also on sale at Kents Bank Station Library, which is open Fridays to Mondays, 11am to 4pm.
Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from the Kents Bank Station Library via their website.
