Sentinel No. 4

• Builder: Sentinel

• Built in: 1953

• Works Number: 4

• Wheel Arrangement: 0-4-0VBGT

• Worked for: Rugby Portland Cement Co Ltd, New Bilton Works at Rugby & Norbrit- Pickering Ltd.

• Current Status: Awaiting Overhaul

Built by Sentinel in 1953, this locomotive began its life at the Totternhoe Quarries in Dunstable, working for Rugby Portland Cement Co. Ltd as their No. 1.

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In 1964, it was reassigned to the company’s New Bilton Works in Rugby. A brief stint followed in early 1966 when it was loaned to the Southam Works in Warwickshire, though it returned to New Bilton within a couple of months.

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By 1967, the locomotive changed hands, sold to Thomas Hill Ltd in Killamarsh, Yorkshire. The following year, it was resold to R.Y. Pickering & Co. Ltd, a wagon manufacturer in Wishaw, Lanarkshire. Renumbered as No. 4, it took on the task of shunting a variety of wagons, including massive 100-ton bogie oil tankers. The company later became Norbrit-Pickering Ltd.

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In July 1979, the locomotive found a new home at the Tanfield Railway, arriving alongside RW Hawthorn Works No. 2009.

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In 2024 - the locomotive was privately purchased by a member of the North Tyneside Steam Railway and will be seeing much needed overhaul in the near future.