So this is Glyder, this is a locomotive built in 1931 for the Durham Water County Waterboard
 who were involved in a job creation scheme at Burnhope reservoir which is in the west end of Weardale
it was a fairly extensive scheme which involved an internal construction railway
and this was one of quite a large fleet of locomotives that worked on and subsequently survived 
on that railway which is 2 foot gauge
The locomotive was in use in to the mid 1930s and being a construction contract it had a finite life
it was then stored pending sale and some of the locomotives were sold in 1936
this one was sold in 1938 and it joined a number of its colleagues at the Penrhyn Quarry Railway in North Wales
originally they were looking at expanding their operation, replacing a narrow gauge line with a standard gauge
and presumably it would have been a construction contract which this and the other engines were obtained
that didn't go through and the locomotive was stored until 1952 at Port Penrhyn
it had been overhauled in 1938, it had a new firebox, lucky for us
and apparently it was repainted in 1957 which means it was probably in its Durham guise until that period
working at the Port and then latterly up in the quarry itself
It was the early 60s, Penrhyn Quarry was finally getting a little bit more up to date
they had some diesel locomotives, so they were phasing out the steam operation
and reputedly an American antiques dealer was in the UK buying up antiques
the 60s was the period where the Americans got very keen on buying English stuff
they bought London bridge and one of the Cunard liners, Queen Elizabeth or Queen Mary
one of the two, that went to America and so on
and this guy's story is that he was in his hotel room and it was on the television about Penrhyn were finishing with their steam engines
and he thought that'll be nice, I'll go buy them
make a few quid!
so he did go and he bought 6, this was one of the 6
they were shipped to Tennessee in 66 I think they went, deck cargo on a freight boat
and they were auctioned, he actually didn't get much money for them in America
I doubt he actually got his money back in reality
and this one and two others was bought by a chap called Hulman who owned an estate
near Indianapolis, and his business was wholesale groceries 
but he also owned Indianapolis Motor Speedway and he had an interest in steam engines
and he was going to build himself a little museum
and he did build it but it never progressed and then it shut
and then this engine and another one, Ogwen, in fact were just put in a barn on his estate 
and the doors were shut and that was it
and there they sat for 50 years
It was known they were there somewhere, but not everyone knew exactly where
one or two folk had tried to go buy them without success
and then a friend of mine, Julian and I, we contacted them, we went to see them and it's a long story
but we ended up buying 3 locomotives from him and this is one of the 3
so we then had to go, get them out of the barn, in a container
and then the question of what to do with it - it was appropriate to bring it here
because it worked here originally, near Burnhope on the reservoir
so hence we brought it back to as near to its original home
and the plan always was to try and make it not look too restored
now if it was going to haul passenger trains regularly, you'd have to have air braking systems
and modern couplings and things, where here we don't have to have that
as it just shoves a few waggons around and that's fine
so it can look more authentic - so it looks quite at home
In 2012, in conjuction with Graham, the idea was hatched to place this and sister engine Ogwen
on display at Beamish because of their Durham connections
in the condition that they had been kept in since the mid 60s 
and the idea really was to see how things developed
it was 2015 that we decided there was a possibility of restoring the locomotive
but really with the intention of keeping it in its original condition
and that's proved quite challenging because as you can see
keeping something looking old, when it has to comply with the regulations that we do
is quite difficult. so the locomotive that you see now has had an overhaul but hopefully it doesn't look like it
the boiler has had quite extensive work carried out on it and that was done by the Severn Valley Railway
then there was quite a bit of cosmetic attention to try and keep that appearance
although the boiler has been repainted, hopefully you can't tell either
the locomotive will be running on the narrow gauge railway which we've been constructing over the last 10 years
the idea being to create a stock yard railway as you might of seen in a colliery
and obviously having local connections it's quite an important exhibit for us
its first appearance to the public will be the Old King Coal event
