Early morning saw a busy scene in the shed area of the Lakeshore Railroad in South Shields where a number of steam locomotives were being readied for a busy day of work. It was an historic weekend all round, with the railway celebrating its 50th anniversary, a milestone that could not be ignored.
Now a firm fixture in the town’s South Marine Park, the railway can trace its history back to the late 1960s when Jack Wakefield of Hetton-le-Hole and Don Proudlock of Wingate, Co. Durham bought the partly-built locomotive Mountaineer from W L Jennings of Templecombe, and completed its restoration.
This locomotive actually owes its existence to another Jennings engine, namely 4-4-2 that was making a guest appearance at South Shields. Built in 1935 to 9½in gauge, it was initially intended to be a true steam locomotive, but a lack of funds for the boiler put paid to that idea. Although the engine was completed with a steam outline, it was actually fitted with an Austin 7 petrol engine that was fitted in the tender with a jack shaft driving the locomotive’s wheels.
