Visitor gifts enable museum to bring in shunting engine

Funding from the public has helped the Streetlife Museum to take delivery of the Frank Galbraith, a steam-fuelled shunting engine that has rolled into town from the National Railway Museum in York.

In return for the Frank Galbraith, Streetlife has returned a previously loaned fish wagon.

Robin Diaper, Hull Council’s curator of maritime and social history, said he was confident the engine would fit in well at the museum and keep visitor numbers on track.

He said: “This engine will be a great addition to our displays at Streetlife. Once again we are very grateful to our visiting public who have made donations to make this possible.”

The locomotive, with its distinctive green colouring, was built by Sentinel Wagon Works Ltd for Teesside Bridge Engineering Company in 1957.

In their heyday, shunting engines such as the Frank Galbraith were the workhorses of the docks and railway sidings of commercial Britain and could be operated by one man acting as both fireman and driver.

The museum is open from 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, and from 1.30pm to 4.30pm on Sundays.