No 8
The engine is of 3ft 0in gauge and was built in 1906 by Manning, Wardle & Co Ltd of Leeds, a special order by the Kettering Coal and Iron company to match two similar locos already in use, and to bring ore from under the fields around Thorpe Malsor village, and later, Rothwell. The quarrying ceased in 1963 and No 8 was presented by KICC to Kettering Museum for exhibition. Later, it needed removing from the front of the Manor House, and came to the care of our Club.
No 8, as we all call the steam railway locomotive that is in the Club’s yard, is a narrow gauge ironstone quarry engine, once used by the Kettering Iron & Coal Co Ltd to haul trains of iron ore from outlying quarries to the merchant blast furnaces and ironworks that were worked just north of the town from 1878 until 1959.
What we are doing
In more recent years ownership of the engine has passed to our Club, and restoration is ongoing. When No 8 finished work in the quarries in 1962 it had completed twelve years work since its last thorough overhaul, and was needy of much attention. The boiler requires expensive repair to be able to steam again, and there is little chance of making a three foot gauge line for No 8 locally that would make such expense worthwhile. Unfortunately, it has to be a static restoration. This will be to exhibition standards, just as the engine was built. The engine is now being carefully reassembled by Club members – some of the workers and supporters are those who were involved with the earlier efforts in the 1960s