Horden

Works photo of Horden

Horden was built in Kilmarnock in 1904 by Andrew Barclay, works no.1015, and worked in the East Durham coalfield from 1904 to 1972.

• We need people to restore Horden for use on the Tanfield Railway
• We especially want people who will take charge of jobs through to completion
• Horden is a joint project of the Trust & Company, and entirely funded by them
• The loco is the right size for all of our operations
• It is needed to supplement locos which are going out of use for repairs
• We like Horden because it is a typical stylish NE colliery loco – it is well over 100 years old, and will give many publicity opportunities
• We aim to complete its rebuilding within 3 years
• The loco needs a lot of work, but should be good for 20+ years when finished

Please let us know if you would like to help

Horden at Shotton Colliery
shortly before it closed in in 1972

A story about Horden from the Durham in Time website quoting the ‘Northern Daily Mail’ of 9th December 1930:

“One supreme achievement was the transport of a locomotive by road from Shotton for use on the stretch of line near the colliery. Two short lengths of rail were fixed on wooden beds and whilst gangs of labourers placed these, one in front of the other alternately, the engine proceeded from Shotton to Horden under its own steam at the rate of a few yards every few minutes. Sighs of relief must have ascended from several hearts when they saw it safely down the gradient of Ellison’s bank. The journey took four days.”

Barclay-built locos were renowned as rugged and commonly used in British collieries - see Grace's guide for more about Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co.    Stories include Horden bending its front buffer beam derailing a Q6 in the exchange sidings, and writing off an NCB van by rolling back when being loaded en route to preservation.   Please comment if you know more ......

As another aside, the photo below from the East Durham website shows an aerial ropeway at Horden Colliery, a common view in East Durham collieries.   I remember such ropeways crossing the A19 in the 1970s.

Aerial ropeway at Horden, 1929
(photo Bob Williams of Blackhall)