Richard
Baillie had a yard in Haddington roughly where the
telephone exchange now stands.
The company were responsible for various building
projects in the town including
the, long closed, Vert Hospital
beside the old A1 road.
I don't
have much information on this particular locomotive but
local man Jimmy Renton tells me that
it, or something similar, was used during construction
of the Hopes Reservoir nr. Gifford.
Given
its somewhat careworn appearance it's possible that it
may have been "laid-up" for some time, so an
accurate date for this photograph is tricky although the
loco itself was probably built in the late 1800s.
William
Page sent me the following information....
"I
was born in Haddington in 1934 when my father worked at
'the Hopes'.
Many of the local men then went to the Ladybower Dam
construction at Bamford in the Peak district, as we did.
I recall a photograph of a very similar steam engine
identical to this one on the site, which we had in the
family
showing my father and a few of the Haddington men,
including my uncle Dan Stirling .
The family connection with this was that the Stirling
family at that time were at South Samuelston, 3 miles
from East Saltoun."
Thanks
for the info William.
It would
appear to be standard gauge (4' 8½") but, without a person to give
it "scale", it's difficult to tell.
Temporary standard & narrow gauge lines were certainly laid during
major building works such as that
of the Gifford & Garvald Light Railway. (See Gifford
History for more.)
The
makers plate on the side of the cab is proving hard to
decipher but for many years one of the major
manufacturers of these type of engines was the North
British Locomotive Works based in Glasgow.
Standard & narrow gauge products from this company were
exported worldwide & some
can still be found working in countries such as India &
Sri Lanka.
Incidentally, the Hopes Reservoir was constructed using
stone recovered from the demolition, in 1930, of Edinburgh's Calton Jail
which stood
in Regent Road. It's said that these stones were covered
in the graffiti of former prisoners. Now lost forever
alas.
The walls of the jail (see below)
were retained & incorporated into the building of St
Andrew's House.
If you
can supply any more info about Richard Baillie, or the
locomotive itself, please
contact
me.
