Throwback Thursday #28

D2078, or 03078 as it is in this photo, shunting George Stephenson's Killingworth Billy into the museum in 1989. Billy was built in 1826 for use at Killingworth Colliery and is known as one of the early pioneering Killingworth locomotives. It is usually called Killingworth Billy to differentiate it from Puffing Billy which was built by William Hedley in 1813 for use at Wylam Colliery.

Puffing Billy would have actually ran past George Stephenson's cottage in Wylam, which is where he got a lot of ideas for his locomotives from. Killingworth Billy ran up until 1881 when it was then presented to Newcastle City Council. Today Billy is still a proud static display in the Stephenson Railway Museum