RESTORING a century-old steam road locomotive with strong Petersfield connections has become a labour of love for Ben Coles.

Engineer Ben, who is based in Bromsgrove in the West Midlands, contacted the Post in search of more information from readers about his locomotive, which he bought earlier this year.

The Fowler D2 5nhp compound three-speed road locomotive number 9971 registered number HO 5655 was sold new to Thomas Amey, of Borough Brewery, Bedford Road, Petersfield, in May 1904.

Amey’s operated six steam engines – four road locomotives and two steam wagons – to deliver beer to pubs in the area and including as far as London.

Fowler 9971 was operated until November 1914 when it was sold to James Connolly, a showman from Fordingbridge, who converted it for use on the fairground and named it “Candyfloss”.

He used the locomotive until 1944 when it was sold to F White, of Purbrook, from whose yard it was rescued for preservation in 1961 by Jack Hampshire.

From the late-1970s it was on display at the World of Country Life Museum at Exmouth in Devon from where Ben bought it and with friends stripped it down to take back to his workshop.

Now he is three months in for what he expects to be 18 months of hard work to completely rebuild the locomotive and return it to the majestic state it was when it travelled Hampshire’s roads pulling a trailer delivering beer.

As someone keen on authenticity – Ben has nothing in his house newer than the 1970s apart from his computer and phone – he wants to restore the paintwork to the livery of the Borough Brewery and that’s where Post readers can help. He is hoping to collect information about how the locomotive would have looked originally and other details about its use by the brewery.

Thomas Amey, who was a dairy farmer and manufacturer of powdered milk, established the brewery in 1883 at the south end of Frenchmans Road, next to the railway line, a site now occupied by Littlejohn bathrooms at the Amey industrial estate.

One of his five daughters, Elizabeth, took over running the Borough Brewery in 1896 and established a reputation of being a formidable character and a strict employer. She died in 1948.

Amey’s estate ran to 20 public houses, including the Bell and the Royal Oak in Petersfield, the Trooper at Froxfield, and pubs as far afield as Portsmouth, Guildford and even London, where the Hole in the Wall near Waterloo Station was handily placed to receive barrels direct from Amey’s own railway siding.

Among the brewery’s products were Petersfield Peter and Petersfield Peter’s Sister but trading conditions after the Second World War proved difficult and in 1951 the business was sold to Whitbread.