Barrington

The oldest locomotive to be found at the Railway is Barrington which was built by the Avonside Engine Co. Ltd. of Bristol in 1921. When built it was exported to India for use on the Bombay Harbour Improvement Trust. It returned to the UK after being sold to T.W. Ward, a railway contractor. Ward's received the contract to built a new line for the Rugby Cement Co. Ltd., at Tottenhoe. When the line was complete it was sold to Rugby Cement and continued to work at Tottenhoe until it was transfered to the cement works at Barrington near Cambridge in 1965. Barrington was purchased for preservation in 1972 and went to the East Anglian Railway Museum. In 1973 it was moved to the Great Central Railway at Loughborough where it probably achieved its greatest claim to fame as it was called upon to haul No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester from the unloading point at Quorn, to Loughborough engine shed. Barrington arrived at the Colne Valley Railway in 1974 following which it gave many years of service. The locomotive is owned by the Avonside Locomotive Society and now carries its original light green livery.