Photo:
Robert Frise - No. 3717 in store in the Down Yard behind the Kerr Stuart Diesel Redland

This was one of five identical locomotives supplied by Hawthorn Leslie to the Associated Portland Cement Company of Swanscombe, Kent, in 1928. Two more engines from Hawthorn Leslie were delivered in later years. All seven worked on the site until the opening of a new works and the introduction of diesels made them redundant. A similar loco built by Hawthorn Leslie, works number 3860, and numbered No. 6 by APC, is preserved at the Middleton Railway, Leeds.

No. 3717 spent all its working life at Swanscombe and was offered to the Society by the Blue Circle Group, of which APC was a constituent. Acquired at a nominal cost, APC No. 3 was delivered to Quainton in June 1971 and was set to work after minor repairs and repainting for the August 1972 Open Days. Major boiler work became necessary during 1975, and the loco is now stored pending comprehensive repairs. During 2008 a cosmetic restoration, including refurbishment of the cab area, was started to allow its display at the head of a demonstration freight train in the Buffer Depot Museum building.

References:
A Stalwart of 1973 - Quainton News No. 18 - December 1973