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The NBL was one of a series built by the North British locomotive company at their Queens Park Works in Glasgow in 1960. This particular locomotive was released to traffic on the 17 of August 1960 and lasted only 7 years before withdrawal. It spent its entire short life allocated to Eastfield depot. After withdrawal from BR, 4 of this type of shunter were bought by Andrew Barclay's of Kilmarnock for conversion back to industrial spec. This loco was sold to Burmah Oil and was delivered to their refinery at Ellesmere Port on the 24 of April 1969. The loco was used for 12 years until 1981.The loco had done less than 4000 miles in that time. It was then sold onto a group at the Bury Transport Museum who restored the loco back to its original condition.


The loco was painted blue in the late 1990's. An interesting defect came to light when a heavy vibration started in the engine. On initial inspection, the crankshaft was found to be broken! A spare engine was located and installed but was never started. The loco stood idle until it's sale to the SRPS.

The loco was bought with the aid of a grant from the Royal Scottish Museum National Fund for Acquisitions. The loco arrived from Bury on the 25th July and has been stored since due to other work. Work commenced on the re-build of the locomotive in the new "big shed". The original power unit (B type) will be re-built and re-fitted with the crankshaft from the engine that is currently in the loco. The bonnet was removed so as to facilitate engine removal and also to enable cleaning and re-painting of the structure. The loco got repainted back to green livery and completely re-wired. Following a short time in service, the loco developed problems with the engine. On removal of the cylinder heads, it was found that the pre-combustion chambers had either disintegrated or had hairline cracks. These have now been replaced and the loco restarted only for the water pump to develop a leak.  The water pump and the coupling continue to be a challenge but hopefully for the start of 2014 it has been resolved for good.  The shunter is in regular use throughout the year.