This Day in History: 1969-02-20

20 February 1969

The new 4-6-4 diesel locomotive, Shelagh of Eskdale, was delivered from the Stratford-on Avon works of Severn-Lamb who completed the build to a design by David Curwen. Starting at the press of a button, the locomotive was driven off the lorry and down a temporary track on to the turn-table at Ravenglass. The chassis was begun in 1955 and incorporates a few parts of the Heywood loco Ella of 1881.

Having created the original design and the construction of the frames, bogies etc., Tom Jones, the Railway Engineer, intended for the engine to be called Shelagh of Eskdale. Shelagh was the leader of the Vikings inhabiting this part of West Cumberland in the 10th Century. The daughter of the Norse King of Dublin, Shelagh - according to the story - led her people into prosperity at the same time defying the attempts of King Ethelred to subjugate Cumbria. Shortly before her death she organised the great bloodless defeat of the King's army on Hardknott Pass and is said to have done much to convert the people of these parts to Christianity. The Viking inhabitants of Cumbria were never completely vanquished and their independence of spirit lives on in West Cumberland. The vast majority of place names in these parts are Norse in origin and so it would seem entirely suitable that the engines should carry names with a similar background.