A nameplate from one of the island’s first locomotives is going up for auction in the UK.

The plate from Mona, engine number five, is being sold by Great Central Railwayana Auctions this Saturday in Warwickshire with a guide price of £3,000 to £5,000.

Mona was built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester in 1874. Latterly used on the Peel line, she has not seen service since its closure.

Railway supporter Mike Buttell explained Mona was taken out of traffic in 1970 and was put into store at Douglas and left there until being sold to private buyers in about 1978-9 along with its original brass nameplates which were subsequently removed. It remained in storage on railway property before later being returned to government ownership, minus the nameplates. Mr Buttell said Mona was in an ’extremely poor condition and is unlikely to be restored to use’.

* Leslie Darbyshire took this picture of Mona in service in Peel in 1967.