Company. Hawthorns and Company, Leith In 1846, they bought the Leith Engine Works, in Leith, Scotland, for the assembly of locomotives prepared in Newcastle. These works were sold to another company also called Hawthorns and Company, which produced some four hundred locomotives on its own account until 1872. In 1859, Hawthorns, Leith, built an 0-4-0T locomotive for Messrs E. & J. Pickering, contractors for the construction of the Cape Town-Wellington Railway in the Cape Colony. This locomotive was the first steam locomotive to run in South Africa. In 1861 the Cape Town-Wellington Railway Company took over all construction, and the locomotive, from Pickerings and the locomotive became the Cape Town-Wellington Railway's no 9, later to become known as "Blackie". It was subsequently rebuilt to a configuration. In 1936 it was proclaimed a national monument and has since been plinthed in the concourse at Cape Town station. In 1861, Hawthorns supplied an 0-4-0WT locomotive, works number 244, to the Howe Bridge Colliery in Lancashire. Named Ellesmere, it continued in use at the colliery until 1957, when it was the oldest working steam engine in Britain. It is now preserved in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Notes and references Bradley, D.L. (1979) The locomotive history of the London Chatham and Dover Railway, Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. Lowe, J.W., (1989) British Steam Locomotive Builders, Guild Publishing. Clarke, J.F., (1977) Power on Land & Sea - a history of R & W Hawthorn Leslie, Hawthorn Leslie (Engineers) Ltd. Hawthorn Manufacturing companies based in Newcastle upon Tyne Engineering companies of Scotland