Fundraisers hoping to restore Biddulph's oldest steam engine have launched an appeal to help save the 134-year-old locomotive.

The Knotty Trust, based at Foxfield Railway in Blythe Bridge, are raising money in aid of the restoration of the Robert Heath No.6 steam engine, which is known affectionately as "Old Mr Heath".

The trust have set a fundraising target of £20,000 for the engine's restoration, and have so far raised over £13,000 towards this, meaning they are less than £7,000 away from their goal.

Built in 1886 in Biddulph by local ironmaster Robert Heath, the engine was used at the local area's ironworks and collieries, and is the last surviving locomotive from that builder.

In 1969, Old Mr Heath moved into preservation at Shugborough Hall, and in 1986 was restored for its centenary use at the National Garden Festival in Stoke-on-Trent, and what was then the Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum.

After the closure of the Mining museum, the engine was moved to the Foxfield Steam Railway in 1994, where it operated until 2008 when withdrawn for overhaul.

The trust took ownership of Old Mr Heath in March 2020, and are now hoping to get it in fully restored to working order, so they can use the locomotive to haul the North Staffordshire Railway Heritage Train, based on the Foxfeld Railway.

Their initial tasks will include the manufacture of a new smokebox tubeplate and a new set of springs. It is hoped that locomotive will be cosmetically restored by the Autumn of 2021.

To donate or find out more, visit the trust's GoFundMe page here.