Preston departure

Furness Railway No.20 sets out from the Ribble SteamRailway station at Preston Riversway.

This locomotive was one of a batch of eight locomotives constructed by Sharp Stewart of Manchester for the Furness Railway. It was completed in 1863. The rapid growth of traffic on the Furness Railway in the 1860′s resulted in these small four wheeled engines soon becoming obsolescent. In 1870 the first six of the class, F.R. Nos. 17, 18, 19, 20, 25 and 26 were sold to the Barrow Haematite Steel Co. at Barrow. This locomotive continued in traffic until 1960 when diesel locomotives were introduced after which it stood in the ground of a school in Barrow until 1983. Restoration was completed in late 1998 and it is now the country’s oldest working steam locomotive.