A LOCO that was saved from the scrapheap and renamed in honour of one of York’s Normandy veterans will have her first public run in her original livery tomorrow.

The diesel shunter was once used on the former Rowntree factory site in York, where veteran Ken Cooke worked as a blacksmith after returning from the Second World War. He sometimes hitched a ride on the locomotives to get around the factory site.

Last year he unveiled the loco’s new nameplate at the Derwent Valley Light Railway at Murton near York and tomorrow the owners who saved the loco from the scrapheap will proudly take her on the tracks in her green livery.

The Ruston Hornsby 88DS, a preserved ex Rowntree and Co Ltd No3 shunter, is owned by Glynnis and Tony Frith of York.

Mrs Frith said: “It will be amazing to take the engine on its first public run in the livery of 1960 she had as new when she left the Ruston Hornsby factory in Lincoln.

“The engine was used at Rowntree’s as a shunter and after it went out of service it was donated to the North York Moors Railway (NYMR) in 1987 and was later on loan to the National Railway Museum Shildon.

“I think we were having a midlife crisis back in 2013 when we bought the engine. It was on the disposal list to be scrapped by NYMR. By that time we were volunteering at DVLR and it seemed logical to save it. We discussed it one night as we were having a barbecue.”

Mrs Frith said the restoration was a lot of work, but she and her husband had help from other DVLR volunteers.

The loco and others will be pulling passengers from Murton Park Station this Sunday at the DVLR or the Blackberry Line, as it is affectionately known.