Chasewater Railway Museum
Another Neilson Worksplate
Our Curator has been out and about again, this time coming back with another very nice worksplate.
Neilson 3789-1888
A worksplate, NEILSON, 3789, 1888, from a standard gauge 0-4-0T which was new to the Gas Light & Coal Company (later the North Thames Gas Board) at Beckton Gas Works, their No 19. It remained there all its working life and was scrapped in 1962. Engraved brass, 9″x 5½”, the engraving picked out in red, the back stamped 19.
No.3789 was one of the heavier Neilson engines with extended tanks, it is seen here as No.19 inside the Beckton Roundhouse on 9 July, 1927. Photo: H.C.Casserley.
Beckton Gasworks was a major London gasworks built to manufacture coal gas and other products including coke from coal. It has been variously described as ‘the largest such plant in the world’ and ‘the largest gas works in Europe’. It operated from 1870 to 1969, with an associated by-products works that operated from 1879 to 1970. The works were located on East Ham Level, on the north bank of the Thames at Gallions Reach, to the west of Barking Creek.
Neilson No.3789 was an 1888 arrival at Beckton and is seen here with a coke train on 22 April, 1959. Photo: Sydney A.Leleux.
Chasewater Railway Museum 