A GROUP of Elsecar volunteers is well chuffed after they were given a free locomotive.

British Petroleum donated the redundant engine to Elsecar Railway Preservation Group in a ceremony yesterday, attended by the council’s cabinet spokesman for development Bill Newman.

Group member Martyn Hill has been working with the international oil company on restoration of the 39-year-old diesel shunter for two years.

The engine, built in Hunslett, Leeds, has spent its working life at a BP terminal in Essex, and Martyn said that it was good that it had come back to its home in Yorkshire.

He said: “We had months where we thought there was very little progress, and then suddenly it all came together.”

Group chair Malcolm Banks said: “It’s been a lot of graft, it really has. “This engine was in a sorry state, with parts missing and glass missing out of the cab.

“Martyn has been liaising with BP for two years, working on restoring the locomotive with the knowledge that it would come to us at the end of it. “The loco is now at Elsecar and we think it’s a bit of a coup for the Barnsley area, not just for us.”

The preservation group hopes to employ the engine to run a shopper service if plans to extend the line to Cortonwood retail park go ahead.