File:Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Railway No.29.jpg

English: Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Railway No.29 (Kitson No.4263 of 1904) in light green livery at the Great Western Society Steam Gala, Didcot Railway Centre, 31 July 2021. No.29 was the first of a class of five built in 1904-09 which proved ideal for hauling coal trains from the Lambton Collieries (particularly the Philadelphia ones) to the quayside staithes in the Port of Sunderland, a narrow tunnel leading to them requiring the 0-6-2T’s to have a distinctive low, rounded cab.

The Durham Coalfield began to be run down by the National Coal Board in the late 1960’s and the NCB railway system contracted as a result. Moreover, the NCB was replacing steam by diesel shunters, with the result that No.29 was withdrawn in 1969 and put into store until purchased for preservation the following year.

The Lambton Family (the heads of which eventually become the Earls of Durham) first developed collieries around their castle in County Durham in the early 18th Century and in 1737 constructed a horse-drawn tramway – the Lambton Railway - to serve their collieries. They then bought the nearby Newbottle Wagonway in 1819 which enabled the Lambtons to export take their coal to the staithes on the mouth of the River Wear for shipping to London and abroad.

By 1860 the Railway had expanded to 70 miles (powered by both stationary steam engines for inclines and steam locomotives), the largest colliery railway in the North East; the LR also had running rights over the North Eastern Railway. Lambton Collieries (and Railway with 33 locomotives) merged with Hetton Collieries (and Railway with 8 locomotives) in 1911 and with Joicey Collieries (and Railway with 57 locomotives) in 1924, through which it also gained control over the Beamish Railway, resulting in a huge colliery, railway and staithes system. So successful was the 0-6-2T type on the LH&JCR that in the 1930’s it bought from the GWR former Taff Vale Railway and Cardiff Railway 0-6-2T’s that the GWR had withdrawn. When the NCB was formed in 1947, the Lambton’s Philadelphia works became the main locomotive repair and overhaul centre for the NCB regionally.