ANDREW Barclay 0-4-0 fireless locomotive (1952/1928) has returned to steam following repairs at the Doon Valley Railway, Dunaskin, which is the Scottish Industrial Railway Centre.
This locomotive was delivered new to Shell Mex Ltd at Ardrossan in March 1928 where it ran as No. 8. Operations at Shell-Mex ceased in 1986 and the locomotive was transported to the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group’s site at Minnivey, before finally arriving at its current home at Dunaskin.
Fireless locomotives have a steam accumulator rather than a boiler which is charged up with steam from a stationary boiler. The availability of high pressure steam means that a fireless locomotive is a very efficient method of traction. A peculiarity of fireless locos is that the cylinders are usually at the rear of the locomotive rather than the front as in a conventional machine. In the case of No. 8, these are 15in diameter and the engine has 3ft diameter wheels.
The method of operation at Dunaskin is to steam another Andrew Barclay product, 0-4-0ST No. 10 (2244/1944) which is a local, having worked at Dunaskin for virtually all its working life. Once in steam, No. 10 is connected by a reinforced hose to No. 8 and steam transferred between the pair until No 8 reaches its working pressure, when the hose is disconnected and No. 8 can then work for a few hours until it requires recharging.