Barber was built in 1908 by Thomas Green & Sons of Leeds and spent its entire working life on the Harrogate Gas Works railway. It is also thought to be the only Thomas Green locomotive left in this part of the world. Her name comes from Francis Barber who was the chairman of the gasworks.
She was joined in 1920 by a 4-6-0 Hunslet named “Spencer”. This engine had seen service during WW1 and had to be modified to work on the Harrogate system. Like Barber it was fitted with a reduced height cab so that they could fit through a narrow tunnel. One of the tunnel mouths still exists and can be found in a local back garden.
Barber bore the brunt of the services and underwent a number of rebuilds. She was eventually relegated to standby loco when the railway Purchased Peckett “2050” now named “Harrogate”.
The rebuilt Peckett can be seen on the left with its taller fittings and cab.
By this time Spencer had been scrapped, she had proven unpopular with the loco crews and wasn’t as efficient to run as Barber.
Barber was last steamed sometime in the late 1940’s, about the same time the railway purchased an 0-6-0 Drewry diesel.
She was saved by the Narrow Gauge Railway Society and was eventually taken to Armley Mills in Leeds. Restoration started in earnest there before more recently moving to the South Tynedale Railway, Alston.
In recent years the railway launched an appeal for £100,000 to fund her return to steam. This appeal proved successful and she was sent to Alan Keefs works, Ross-on-Wye for completion.
She returned to the South Tynedale Railway in early 2015 but was not officially launched into traffic until the May bank holiday weekend. She was joined by the other remaining gasworks steam locomotive Peckett “Harrogate”, with the pair working trains top and tail.
According to the book “Harrogate Gas Works. Its railways and other transport systems” The Harrogate Gas Works Drewry diesel was rebuilt and sold on for further use in Zimbabw, but has since been scraped. As a final point, a similar loco to “Spencer” also survives in the UK, although this does not have a cut down appearance. This is Hunslet No.1215.