Cadishead Way – Rotary Club Memorial Site

The CWS Irlam Soap, Candle and Starch Works locomotive Number 8, built in 1955, was a 0-4-0 Peckett fireless Loco No 2155.

This unique locomotive was charged with steam from a boiler within the factory and could work for up to two hours without a re-charge.

As a new and completely unique Peckett Loco this engine became the eighth member of the Soap Works locomotive team. With the business flourishing there was a need to bring in another locomotive. Unable to purchase their first choice, a diesel engine, due to timeframes, alternatives were sought. Given that there were several stationary boilers on the Soap Works site, the fireless loco was suggested as a feasible and more economical option. Purchased from Peckett and Sons for £4,760, loco number 2155, a fireless type, was the only one of its kind produced at the Atlas Works, Bristol.

When the soap works closed in 1969, it was presented for static display in the George Thomas Recreation Ground and subsequently became known as Thomas.

In 2005, it was moved to its current location, outside the Northbank Industrial Park on Cadishead Way, when this memorial site was donated by the City of Salford to celebrate the centenary of Rotary International. After the Rotary Club of Irlam rallied around to save the engine from the scrapheap. The salvation project involved a collaboration of efforts from local stakeholders, including Salford City Council and Birse Construction, who were building the Cadishead by-pass at the time. Placed on rails, and painted in its original colours of green with black and yellow lining, the engine now stands proudly alongside Cadishead Way near to the old railway viaduct over the Ship Canal, surrounded by grass and shrubs and with a plaque detailing its checkered history.

Today there are few reminders of the district’s industrial past, but thanks to the Rotary Club, who have agreed to maintain the loco and the area on which it sits, this important piece of our history has and will be preserved for future generations.