St Ghislain 111014 Cockerill IV 2331

Saint Ghislain former depot, October 11th 2014

One of over a thousand industrial steam locomotives with a vertical boiler built by the Cockerill works, this little machine - a Cockerill Type IV - was built in 1901 for the S.A. des carrières et Fours à Chaux in Chercq-les-Tournai, Belgium.  Untill her replacement by a couple of diesel locomotives in the late 1940s, she was used intensively; after that she was more or less forgotten about.  When the quarries she worked in were closed and turned into a public park, engine 2331 was restored as a static monument, however recent fears about her safety (due to vandalism and metal theft) meant, that she was donated by the city of Tournai to the railway heritage organisation TSP-PFT for further conservation.  She is one of seven Cockerill-built industrial steam locomotives with vertical boiler left in Belgium.