Furness Railway Number 20 is the oldest working standard gauge steam engine in Britain. It was built in 1863 by Sharp Stewart & Co. of Manchester as one of a batch of eight 0-4-0 tender locomotives supplied between 1863 and 1866. In 1870, the loco was sold to the Barrow Haematite Steel Co. At the time, this company, possessed the biggest Iron and Steel works in the world supplying steel rails to railways across the planet. Sharp Stewart & Co. took the engine back to the works, to convert it to a saddle tank before delivery to the BHSC. In 1915 it was rebuilt with a new boiler and in the 1950's was re-wheeled. It continued in traffic until 1960 when diesel locomotives were introduced. 90 years service at the steelworks, and just 3 years short of its centenary! It was then, it was presented to a local school and stood in the grounds in Barrow for over twenty years, until it was purchased privately in 1983 and moved to the Steamtown Railway Museum at Carnforth in Lancashire, where restoration began, but was cut short by the death of one of the owners. The dismantled remains were acquired by the Furness Railway Trust in 1990 and in 1996 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £97,000 to assist the restoration of No. 20 to its original Furness Railway condition as an 0-4-0 tender locomotive. After a total rebuild, including the construction of a new boiler and tender, the locomotive emerged on 17th December 1998. The new boiler, of mainly riveted construction, was made by Israel Newton & Sons of Bradford. Marconi Marine (V.S.E.L.) constructed the tender chassis and students and staff of Furness College, Barrow, built the tender superstructure. The tender is of welded construction, but dummy rivet heads were welded into position to get the "right look". It entered traffic in January 1999 when F.R. No. 20 made its first journey on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway in Cumbria. We see the locomotive here visiting the Middleton Railway Gala, “200 Years of Steam”. This railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd. since 1960. On 24th June, 2012 the Railway celebrated the 200th anniversary of steam power on the railway. In June 1812 the Middleton Railway became the first railway in the world to successfully use steam locomotives in a commercial environment. Here we see FR no.20 on the Balm Road Branch alongside a 1926 Garrett steam lorry. The driver looks pretty relaxed.
