The Middleton Railway has been donated a historic working model of its very first steam locomotive, ‘Salamanca’.
It was built in 1939 by a Mr H Murray and last worked, we believe, in 1960. Stored for many years, his relatives originally offered the model to Leeds Industrial Museum, but as they already had a number of such models, they recommended that it be offered to the railway, which is delighted to receive it.
Attached are photos of an article in the June 1939 edition of the Model Engineer, detailing the model.
Middleton Railway Trust Chairman, Charles Milner, said:
“We are delighted to be given this superb model of a Blenkinsop locomotive and we will conserve it and have it displayed in our museum to help tell the story of these pioneering machines.”
‘Salamanca’, built by Matthew Murray and John Blenkinsop, was the first commercially successful steam locomotive in the world when it started hauling coal in 1812 at Middleton Railway.
Middleton Railway is located on Moor Road, Hunslet, LS10 2JG and runs steam and deisel trains to Park Halt in Middleton every weekend from April to October.
This post is based on a press release issued by Middleton Railway
While you’re here, can we ask a favour?
South Leeds Life is published by a not-for-profit social enterprise. We keep our costs as low as possible but we’ve been hit by increases in the print costs for our monthly newspaper which have doubled in the last two years.
Could you help support local community news by making a one off donation, or even better taking out a supporters subscription?
Donate here, or sign up for a subscription at bit.ly/SLLsubscribe
