No. 6841'William Francis' was built by Beyer Peacock & Company in 1937 to work at Baddesley Colliery at Atherstone in Warwickshire. It was named after Sir William Francis Dugdale, the son of the founder of the colliery, it was the third locomotive at Baddesley to be so bestowed. The colliery line ran from the West Coast main line in the Trent Valley and rose about 240ft in a distance just short of two miles, an average gradient of 1 in 47 and with 1 in 23 at its steepest grades. The locomotive could out pull an austerity, which doesn't sound like much until you take into consideration that it was an 0-4-0+0-4-0 that weighed 61 tons and produced a tractive effort of 24,600lbf. Not a whole lot is known about the engines history, but we do know that in 1956 it was sent to the works for a general overhaul, however, this overhaul needed to be more than general because by 1966 the engine was worn out again, and so it was retired. William Frances was preserved at Bressingham in Norfolk after arriving there in 1968. It is owned by Mr. J. R. Price and is on permanent loan to Bressingham Steam Museum and is the last surviving standard gauge Garratt in Britain.
