The Merlin Group
The Merlin Group is a small group of dedicated volunteers who willingly devote their spare time to maintaining and operating the Merlin locomotive for the enjoyment and education of visitors to Locomotion at Shildon.
As well as fund raising for the restoration of the Merlin, the group also operates the steam train rides held at Locomotion (see the Steam Rides page).
Members also have the opportunity to take part in the steaming activities at the Museum.
Merlin is an integral part of the Locomotion visitor experience, and after its overhaul will become an important educational and interpretive tool, helping to bring history to life. It will be used to transport visitors from the Goods Shed to the Collection building.
Steve Down, Secretary of the Merlin group:
"To be a member of the Merlin Locomotive Group is a means of learning how to maintain, become a fireman and eventually a driver of a steam locomotive such as Merlin, and to enjoy the thrill of participating of events from a long forgotten era when steam was the only means of transportation. It's a pleasure to work with steam engines and to get one's hands dirty, and to experience the thrill of live steam."
For more information please contact Steve Down at steve-down@lineone.net, or download the application form (PDF, 36Kb).
The Merlin Locomotive Group is a registered charity number 1115358.
Merlin history
The Merlin locomotive was built by Peckett and Sons of Bristol in 1939 for the Stapleton Road Gasworks, owned by the Bristol United Gas Company. The works was connected to both the London Midland and Scottish Railway and the Great Western Railway. At the time the locomotive was named Eberle (or Eberley) and worked with a similar locomotive in the gasworks.
The locomotive was in service at various sites for 32 years but was declared surplus to requirements and sold to a haulage contractor in Gloucestershire where it was stored. In the early 1970s it was used as a stationary boiler by contractors in Shropshire before moving to the Vale of Teifi Railway in Dyfed, Wales.
In the late 1970s it was owned by Iron Rails Ltd, Dyfed before moving to the Gwili Railway near Carmarthen, where it was given its present name - Merlin on one side and its Welsh equivalent Myrddin on the other.
Merlin hauled its first passenger train on the Gwili Railway, following complete restoration. After 10 years working on the line it went on loan to the Swansea Vale Railway in West Glamorgan, before moving to Swindon & Cricklade Railway in Wiltshire as the main working locomotive.
Merlin was purchased in 1997 to be used as a working educational exhibit at the Timothy Hackworh Museum (now Locomotion: the National Railway Museum at Shildon).
