Peckett B2 Class 0-6-0ST № 1378 “Westminster”

The locomotive follows the decorative style of Pecketts of that period, with the wide valanced smokebox front and much brass and copper bright work in keeping.

Westminster worked the FMR from its opening in 1915 until closure after the end of the First World War. The loco also spent some time on another Military Railway closeby. It was then sold to the Associated Portland Cement Company (APC) for use at their Houghton Regis (Dunstable) site and later moved to APC’s Shipton-on-Cherwell site.

Boiler certificates dated October 1966 and November 1968 show it to have been in use as APC’s № 5 at Kiddlington Works in Oxfordshire. When it was no longer required, it was sold into private ownership, having several homes including the Kent & East Sussex Railway before they opened.

Latterly, Westminster was to be found on a short length of private track at the old station at East Tisted, Hampshire. The station, now a private house, is surrounded by new housing necessitating the use of a 200 ton crane to lift the locomotive over the roof of the station buildings and onto a low loader for the journey to Northamptonshire.

Westminster arrived at the NLR in October 1998 and is currently being restored to working condition. To see the latest news and updates on the restoration please go to the loco’s own Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Nonprofit-Organization/Peckett-No-1378-325682167816445/

Westminster arrives on a low loader at Bridge 11 ready for unloading.

A photograph, taken sometime during the First World War, shows Westminster in newly built condition on the Larkhill Military Railway.