at William Sinclair Ltd 
at William Sinclair Ltd
This loco is currently 30 inch gauge. It is one of four locomotives purchased in 1970 ( AB554 -AB557) by ICI Nobel’s Explosives at Ardeer Works in Ayrshire, Scotland. ICI Ardeer was commonly known locally as the ‘factory’ or the ‘Dinnamite’. At the time the company genera\\y provided higher quality employment regarding terms and conditions and pension rights than other local firms. At its peak, the site employed almost 13,000 workers in a fairly remote. location. The factory has contracted hugely since the peak, and the railway usage has also ceased.
Between May 1993 and March 1995, no.97 was. so~d to William Sinclair Horticultural, who used the loco on their peatworks operations. By this time, peatworks were the only remaining user of industrial narrow gauge railways on any scale. No.97 was initially employed at Ryeflat moss, near Carstairs. It moved to the Boothby & Penicuik Peat Company at their Springfields works by August 1995, but had returned to Ryeflat by April 1996. The visit to Springfields was probably for an overhaul. It then moved to another Sinclair works (Cladence moss, at East Kilbride) between September 1996 and September 1998. The loco had returned to Ryeflat by July 2001, but then went back to Cladence at some point between June 2005 and May 2007. The loco arrived at Apedale on 11 May 2016. Although operational (it has moved along its short panel of 2’6″ gauge track) it will need to have the wheels re-set to 2’0″ gauge before it can see regular use. It will also be repainted in the ICI livery it carried when at Ardeer, primarily because the owner used to work at ICI.
