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BEATRICE

Factfile

 

Built: 1945

Hunslet No. 2705

Worked at NCB Ackton Hall Colliery, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

Owner: John Beesley

Beatrice, built 1945 under an order for two locomotives for the Ministry of Supply. Works number 2705 Beatrice, and 2704 (fate unknown).

2705 was delivered to The Ackton Hall Colliery Co. at Featherstone near Pontefract, named after colliery manager’s daughter.

Because coal industry nationalisation was expected the company kept the loco in ex-works condition, steaming it once per month in order to claim maximum compensation for new plant.

Beatrice was given a major overhaul at the Hunslet works in 1964, also fitted with the “gas producer” system including an underfeed stoker. The loco was returned to Ackton Hall with a new NCB South Yorkshire Area livery of dark red rather than the original green, and now numbered S119 in the NCB fleet.

Sold into preservation in 1976, Operating from 1982 the loco has been at the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway for longer than her previous industrial career. Overhauled again and back at work in 2012, Beatrice has the upgrades of a rocking grate, hopper ashpan and a Lempor exhaust system.

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