(Image: Tim David, reproduced with permission)
Hidden behind Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield, UK, 24 miles from the train graveyard at Healey Mills, this forlorn diesel shunter has stood silent since the late 1980s. The engine caught my attention 20 years ago after visiting the museum as a boy. Walking near Kelham Island recently, I was surprised to see the locomotive – showing signs of age and neglect – close to where it stood years before, its peeling paint blending with the brick wall beyond.
(Image: Tim David, reproduced with permission)
It turns out the faded engine, no. YE 2481, has an important history. Named “Sheffield” after the city in which it was built, it was the second of a pair of diesel shunters (the other being “Rotherham”) built by the Yorkshire Engine Company in 1951. The only two ever built in their class, the shunters served at Templeborough Steelworks before being earmarked for preservation. A generation later and despite its local and industrial heritage, restoration has seemingly alluded Sheffield.
Kelham Island is also famous for its beer! Read more about Kelham Island Brewery, and other nearby real ale houses.
