• Builder: W.G Bagnall

• Built in: 1950

• Works Number: 2994

• Wheel Arrangement: 0-6-0ST

• Worked for: Steel Company of Wales Ltd, Austin Motor Company Ltd

• Current Status: Operational

 

In 1950 WG Bagnall designer Harold Wood, produced what Bagnall's hoped would be their standard post war design, built to compete with the diesel shunters flooding the market. They were high specification and designed to be low maintenance. Featuring Walschaerts valve gear, roller bearings, rocking grate and hopper ash pans. All unusual in industrial locomotives. In the end only three were built, with No.401 being complete in 1950 and No.402 and No.403 following in 1951.

 

All were dispatched to the Steel Company of Wales in 1951. No.401 was in use at the Port Talbot Steelworks for just 6 years before being replaced by diesel locomotives. In 1957 No.401, along with No.403, were sold to the Austin Motor Company Ltd for use at their Longbridge Plant in Birmingham. It was whilst working at Austin’s that No.401 obtained the name ‘Vulcan’ and sister locomotive No.403 was given the name ‘Victor’.

 

Both No.401 and No.403 were sold and preserved at the West Somerset Railway, returning to steam in December 1977. In 1986, No.401 arrived at the North Tyneside Steam Railway after being acquired by Tyne & Wear Museums. The locomotive was in regular service throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s before being withdrawn from service in December 2008. After undergoing an extensive overhaul, No.401 once again returned to steam in early 2019. In 2020, No.401 was repainted into her Steel Company of Wales Ltd livery.