Cheetal, a 2-foot gauge steam locomotive, is returning to its home at Leeds City Museums after a 12-year stay at the West Lancashire Light Railway at Hesketh Bank in Lancashire.

Built in Leeds by John Fowler & Company (Leeds) Limited, Cheetal is an 0-6-0 Well Tank locomotive that was built in 1923 for the Karachi Port Trust, which was then in India but is now in Pakistan. It was later used at the Upper India Sugar Mills at Khatauli, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Whilst at Khatauli, Cheetal was fitted with a steam turbo-generator and large electric headlights to allow sugar cane harvesting at night.

The narrow gauge railway system at Khatauli was abandoned in 1984, but Cheetal was saved for preservation and shipped to the UK where it became part of a collection of Leeds-built locomotives.

In 2013, the West Lancashire Locomotive Trust agreed a long-term loan of Cheetal with Leeds Industrial Museum for the long-term loan of the locomotive.

Sybil, another locomotive at the West Lancashire Light Railway, was runner-up and Highly Commended in the Steam Locomotive of the Year category at last year’s Heritage Railway Association’s awards. Last year, the railway received a grant from the Lancashire Environmental Fund to invest in solar energy.