St Monans is a 100hp geared four wheel steam locomotive with a vertical boiler and cylinders which was built in 1947 by the Shrewsbury firm of Sentinels Ltd.
It was delivered new to the Hawton Plaster works of what later became British Gypsum Ltd, Newark. Taking it’s name from Andrew Barclay 279 of 1885, it worked here until being displaced by a diesel in 1971.
It was initially sold to a member of the GCR at Loughborough where restoration work was commenced. It was then re-sold and arrived at Southport in October 1979, where work was completed. Another regular performer at Southport, the loco eventually left traffic after the superheater failed in the early 1990s, and hasn’t steamed since. The engine was moved to Preston, arriving on 13th March 1999.
The loco is almost identical to “Gradwell”, which used to work at the local Whittingham Railway. Currently the loco is undergoing restoration to working order.
