FROM MANX STEAM RAILWAY NEWS

ISSUE No. 143 - WINTER / SPRING 2007

The following information has been produced further to several letters we have received from members following the article in issue 142 regarding this locomotive, which we trust will be of interest to our readers; we always welcome any contributions of material of historical or contemporary nature.

No. 2 was unique in the Isle of Man Railway fleet in being the only locomotive to have disappeared without a trace; a set of pony trucks do still exist in store at Homefield Depot and these are believed to belong to her, but the railway was well known for mixing and matching components having a fleet of solely Beyer Peacock locomotives (with the exception of Dübs’ Caledonia of 1885) so the chances of this particular set of trucks being the original 1873 set carried by No. 2 are slim.  One question raised that has been answered however is that of her livery.  Being withdrawn from service in c.1947, by rights she should have been re-painted into the post-war “Indian” red livery.  With only the pony trucks mentioned above to go on (albeit their axle box covers are still green!) it was open to debate whether a repaint was carried out.  There is certainly no official record available to prove this but Association member Andrew King has e-mailed two photos dated 5^th July 1978 of the frames at Douglas Station which show the bunker being in green (one of these has been reproduced on the inside back cover).

Of the original trio of locomotives provided for the opening of the Peel Line in 1873, No. 2 had the shortest lifespan.  No. 1 Sutherland lasted in service until 1964 and was one of the locos re-painted into spring green for display in the Ailsa Era at St. John’s and later Douglas.  She was then selected for inclusion in the new railway museum in Port Erin in 1975 together with No. 16 Mannin of 1926 before being chosen for return to service in connection with the 125^th Anniversary of the line in 1998.  Of course, the boiler mounted in the frames was that of privately owned sister loco No. 8 Fenella, which has since been restored using the same boiler and remains in service today.  No. 1 is currently dismantled and in storage in the steam sheds at Douglas.  There was talk of reuniting her with the previous boiler and re-entry into the museum but her space is currently occupied by railway-owned No. 6 Peveril of 1875 and No. 1 looks likely to remain in store for the foreseeable future, which is a shame given her historic importance.

No. 3 Pender is of course a sectionalised exhibit, having been sold by Bill Jackson in 1978 and remains on display at the Manchester Museum of Science & Industry, painted in an interpretation of her original livery.  She too was a static exhibit with No. 1 Sutherland in the Ailsa days but was at this time in the Indian red livery; and so, of the original trio of locomotives supplied to the railway, each of them have had chequered careers, but it is No.1 herself that has survived intact on her home metals.  No. 2 is set to remain an enigma lost in the mists of time.