The gala reunited two former Lambton locomotives, Kitson 0-6-2 No. 29 and Hunslet Austerity No. 60 along with the railway’s current visiting steam locomotive Hudswell Clarke Illingworth. Throughout the course of the three-day event a variety of passenger and demonstration goods trains were run along the two-mile railway. These included double and triple-headed trains along with top and tailing, and gravity shunting at the railway’s southern terminus at Percy Main using the railways 20t brake van.
No. 29 was built in 1904 by Kitsons & Co of Leeds as works number 4263 for the Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Colliery Company’s Lambton Railway. It was the first 0-6-2T delivered to the Lambton system as part of the company’s plans to update the fleet from the older 0-6-0 tender engines they were using at the time. The 0-6-2 design proved very popular and 29 was joined by several others including No. 5 which is also preserved and in the very early stages of restoration to steam at the NYMR.
One of 29’s most distinctive features is its rounded cab roof profile. All Lambton locomotives had this cab profile which was to allow them to pass through the tunnels at Lambton
