Askham Hall - The forgotten Avonside.
Askham Hall - The forgotten Avonside. Askham Hall in Whitehaven in 1976. © George Woods Anyone who has visited Threlkeld Quarry in recent years may have spotted the unrestored and sad looking 0-4-0 saddle tank sitting in the lower storage area. This is Avonside No.1772 of 1917 “Askham Hall”. Built by Avonside locomotives works, Bristol. The engine was originally named “Sella Park" a name it carried until Hawthorn Leslie rebuilt it during 1935. The engine spent its working life on the Cumbrian coast, spending time working at industrial sites in Workington & Whitehaven. In the early 1970’s it ran over BR metals under its own power moving from Solway colliery Workington where it saw little use, to Whitehaven where it worked coal trains along Whitehaven harbour, transporting coal from Howgill incline to ships that would then take the coal to Ireland and the Isle of Man. Askham Hall finally became surplus and was donated to Copeland Borough Council who transferred the engine to