Motor Rail 8979 of 1946 was ordered by McAlpine and apparently delivered to their yard in Middlesex. No more is currently known until the loco arrived (in 1968) at the Hollycombe museum in Hampshire. It then moved (in 1973) to Alan Keef’s site, then at Cote, Oxfordshire. February 1974 saw it move to Elmet Industrial Tractors (same as MR5213, fleet no. 87), apparently for use on a Yorkshire Water Authority at Booth Ferry Bridge, Asselby (East Riding of Yorkshire). This may be the same location which subsequently employed MR5213. It was eventually preserved at Embsay in May 1982 (where the photo was taken, No.87 in the background). The loco arrived at Apedale on 25 February 2023. We thank Mr Douglas Johnson for the photo.
