The Barber line - Harrogate Gasworks railway

The Harrogate Gasworks railway was a narrow gauge railway that opened in 1908 to carry coal from Bilton Yard on the Leeds to Northallerton railway to New Park, the site of the Gasworks. Bitumen was then transported from New Park back to Bilton from transport to Middlesbrough. The railway ran for 1 mile and featured a very confined height 800 yard tunnel. Due to the size of the tunnel all the locomotives were built with a reduced height cab and fittings giving them a squat appearance.

The lines first locomotive was "Barber" it was built in 1908 by Thomas Green & Sons of Leeds and spent its entire working life on the Harrogate Gas Works railway. It even used during the construction of the railway.

"Barber" is based on a similar engine named "Masham" which worked on a nearby reservoir construction railway, both railways were built by Mr Edward Wilson Dixon M.Inst.C.E. "Barber" was named after Francis Barber who was the chairman of the gasworks. It is also thought to be the only Thomas Green locomotive left in this part of the world.

Hunslet "303" is the same design as "Spencer" just with it's as built full height cab & fittings. © Copyright Chris Allen and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

"Barber" was the railways sole locomotive and due to increased usage it was starting to show signs of wear and tear. So, the railway began looking for a second locomotive. in 1920 the railway purchased a Hunslet 4-6-0 named “Spencer” from the Ministry of Munitions. The locos cab and fittings were altered by Hunslet so that it could pass through the tunnel. "Spencer" was built in 1919 and was intended to be used on the light railways used on the front lines in France. But, due to the end of the war it never left for the front line. The loco was named after the vice-chairman of the gas company.

"Spencer" proved problematic and struggled on the gradients to Knox Lane bridge. A diversion was built in 1921 which eased the gradient here but "Spencer" still proved troublesome and was never a favorite among its drivers. It remained in service till about 1942 as the standby loco and was finally cut up for scrap at New Park in 1946.

The rebuilt engine, now named "Harrogate" is pictured above at Lintley halt on the South Tynedale Railway.

Due to the condition of "Barber" and the unreliability of "Spencer" the railway began looking for a suitable and reliable replacement. In 1944 the railway purchased a brand new Peckett 0-6-0ST No.2050.

Three locomotive builders, Hunslet, Hudswell Clarke & Peckett had put forward their proposals for a new locomotive. Hudswell Clarke's proposal was for a duplicate of "Barber". Hunslets was for a cut down version of one of there Sierra Leone Government Railway locomotives (pictured below). A similar Hunslet worked with "Masham" and was named "Leeds No.1"

W&LLR engine No. 14 at Castle Caereinion station. originally posted to Flickr as No. 14 rests at Castle Caereinion. Author fairlightworks. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

The "Peckett" was also based on one of Pecketts preexisting designs. Similar Pecketts were built for use in Africa. One interesting feature of 2050 was that the front portion of the saddle tank, over the smokebox was purely cosmetic and did not hold water.

In 1946 the decision was made to replace "Barber", which had been relegated to stand-by loco when the Peckett arrived. The replacement was an 0-6-0 diesel built by the Drewry Car Company. Like the other locomotives on the line the Drewry was a modified variant of a standard design. The order was placed in the summer of 1947 but it did not arrive till 1949. With the arrival of the diesel the Peckett became the lines stand-by locomotive. The Drewry ran up until the closure of the railway in 1956.

Upon closure of the Drewry was put up for sale and eventually sold to Mine & Plantation LTD in South Africa. By this point it had been overhauled by Bagnall and renumbered 3152. Whilst in Africa it was rebuilt with a taller cab. It failed in 1986 with a transmission issue and is now believed to have been scrapped.

In 1957 the Peckett was sold to the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales by the demolition contractors who'd bought the railway. The FR planned to rebuild the Peckett so that it could haul passenger trains on the railway. It was named "Volunteer" while it was based there. Serious work did not start on the engine till the late 1980s, where it was stripped down and towed along the line to check clearances.These works were never completed and it was eventually transferred to the Bredgar and Wormshill railway in Kent. This also involved the transfer of a diesel, similar to that used at Harrogate to the Ffestiniog.

At Bredgar the Peckett was named "Harrogate" and was rebuilt with a taller cab and fittings, as shown above. "Harrogate" is now based at the Statfold Barn railway near Tamworth.

"Barber" was last steamed in the 1940's by which time it was worn out. The rear of the frames were extremely weak due to the lowered cab. And there were also issues with its regulator. The engine had been rebuilt a number of times during its working life and even visited Hunslet works for repair.

When the line closed "Barber" remained onsite and there were plans to mount the loco on a plinth locally. But the decision was made by the North Eastern Gas Board for the Narrow gauge railway society to find a suitable home for the loco and it was moved to Copley Hill store of the Leeds city museum. Restoration was started here but it wasn't till 2015 that "Barber" steamed again.

Eventually "Barber" was moved to Armley Mills in Leeds. But priority was given to other projects. During the summer of 1983 "Barber" was moved to the workshops of the nearby Bradford Industrial Museum, work on the main components took place here and it returned to Armley Mills in 1991, but little to no further work was carried out there. In 2004 "Barber was transferred to the South Tynedale railway who launched a £100,000 appeal to return the loco to steam. The work was carried out by Alan Keef and "Barber" steamed again at a launch weekend during the 2015 May Bank Holiday where it was joined by "Harrogate". As of December 2020 "Barber" is out of traffic awaiting repairs to its cylinders.

In April 2021 the South Tynedale Railway published the "Barber Conservation Management Plan" which outlines the plans to significantly alter the appearance of the loco by raising the cab and chimney heights. This plan has divided enthusiasts as many would prefer the loco to remain in its as built historical appearance.

The line today

Today some sections of the tracked remain and is is possible to walk a short distance of it. There are some remains of the loading docks at Bilton Yard, complete with tar!. The bridge abutments at Knox Lane also still survive. And one tunnel portal remains in the back garden of a house, the New Park end has been filled in and the whole area redeveloped. The Gas works site also appears disused.

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