Barclay 0-6-0T 976/1903

In this new feature we shall be showcasing one of the Sandstone loco fleet each month. Our first locomotive is 3’6” gauge Barclay 976, built in 1903 in Kilmarnock, Scotland.

Andrew Barclay was born in 1814 and had a turbulent career with the company that bore his name. His first business was set up in 1847 to supply winding engines to the coal industry but failed. Despite the setbacks he built his first locomotive in 1859 and stumbled through numerous name changes and business setbacks before Andrew Barclay, sons & Co. Ltd was formed in 1892. It would appear that Andrew’s lack of business acumen did not impress the rest of the family and he was removed from the business in 1894.

In 1930 the company was bought by John Cochrane Ltd and in 1963 it acquired the business goodwill of the North British Locomotive Company which was declared bankrupt in 1962. By 1972 Barclay was acquired by the Hunslet Group becoming Hunslet-Barclay in 1989. In November 2007 Hunslet-Barclay was acquired by Brush Traction and renamed Brush-Barclay. So after more than 100 years the Barclay name lives on.

Locomotive 976 was ordered by Johannesburg locomotive agents, J&R Niven for Cullinan Colliery. It was painted Olive Green and named “Cullinan” It was dispatched to South Africa on 30th July 1903. Other information shows the locomotive as being delivered to the Transvaal and Delagoa Bay Collieries of Witbank (T&DB) where it worked at Douglas Colliery. This is a small mystery and it may be that Cullinan Colliery was part of the T&DB and actually nowhere near to Cullinan which is famous for its diamond mine.

The T&DB, of course, is famous for sheltering Winston Churchill during his escape from Boer captivity in Pretoria during the Boer War.

Only three locomotives survive from the old T&DB which was closed in 1953, the Barclay 976, North British 0-6-0T 19790 of 1912 which is also owned by Sandstone but on loan to Century City in Cape Town and Brooks 0-4-0ST 2725 of 1896 plinthed at a children’s playground in Claremont, Cape Town.

In 1914 976 was sold to the Union Steel Corporation of Vereeniging (USCO) as their No: 2 for use in the Vaal Works. Opened in 1912, USCO was the first steel works in South Africa and sited south of Vereeniging Station with sidings connected to the Vereeniging-Bloemfontein main line.

976 was plinthed at the main gate after many years of service but then removed for a preservation project. Sadly this never happened and the loco was set aside for scrapping. A chance visit by Geoff Pethick from Sandstone spotted 976 and Peckett 0-4-0ST 1731 of 1927 in the scrappers area from where they were removed and sent to Sandstone.

Barclay 976 is now painted red and is in covered storage at Ficksburg. It is soon to be moved to the main gate at Sandstone where it will be plinthed for future generations to admire.

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