Peckett 0-6-0 saddle tank locomotive works number 1378 was built in 1914 to a War Office order, delivered to Sir John Jackson on 6th November 1914 for use on the Larkhill Military Railway. It then moved to the Fovant Military Railway (FMR) on Salisbury Plain in 1915, gaining the name 'Westminster'. The locomotive follows the decorative style of Pecketts of that period, with the wide valanced smokebox front and much brass and copper bright work.
Westminster worked the FMR until closure after the end of the First World War, following which the loco also spent some time on another Military Railway nearby. It was sold to the Associated Portland Cement Company in 1920 for service at their Houghton Regis (Dunstable) site, later moving to Shipton-on-Cherwell and Kidlington, where boiler certificates were issued in October 1966 and November 1968 listing the engine as No.5.
Westminster was sold into private ownership, having several homes including the Kent & East Sussex Railway.
Latterly to be found on a short length of private track at the old station at East Tisted, Hampshire a crane was used to extract the locomotive for transfer to it's current home on the Northampton and Lamport Railway in Northamptonshire where she is being restored.
Peckett locomotives which were noted for their fine rivet work on the cabs and tanks and the generous use of brass and copperwork continued to be built at Atlas Works until June 1958. Describing their core market as “Colleries, Ironworks, Contractors Tinplate Works etc.” Peckett took pride in turning their locos out in a lined Works livery and utilised many standard components in their construction, however the nature of the locomotives’ end use meant there were a number of alterations carried out, particularly as reduced height versions for operating in smelting works and collieries.
Although producing a serviceable 200bhp diesel locomotive design like most steam locomotive builders Peckett & Sons were unable to survive the changing rail freight patterns and availability of surplus ex-BR shunting engines. The company was bought out by Reed Crane & Hoist Company during 1961, having produced 140 W4 locomotives between April 1885 and February 1906.
The Peckett company name was still recorded by Companies House as a dormant company until the 1990s and surviving company records and drawings are now held by the National Railway Museum.