This is a well known photo of the Malta Railway engineering works, taken in 1912 as part of a series of promotional photographs intended for publication in a British engineering Journal. Two of these photos captured busy scenes inside the railway’s Hamrun workshops. Looking closely at what’s going on there’s a bit of a surprise.

On the far left, behind the dapper figure of Nicola Buhagiar, Railway Manager, is the frame of one of the railway’s pretty Beyer Peacock locomotives, stripped down and hardly recognisable. Across the workshop other components are strewn around. Recognisable only by the distinctive curve on the side tank, this is Beyer Peacock has been almost entirely dismantled!

I’ve marked up this copy of the photo with all the recognisable parts before they were reassembled and the working locomotive retuned to traffic. It could have been any of the four of this class of engine owned by the company, 7, 8, or 10, but not No.9; this appears complete in another photo from the same occasion.

From documentary sources, the Railway’s annual Report as a Government department, we know four engines underwent “overhauling and renewing” in the 1912-13 financial year. Unlike other entries in these reports, the identity of the engines is not provided.

The photo gives a vivid impression of the skill and capability of the railway workshop at this time. The complete disassembly and reconstruction of a locomotive was a challenging puzzle for any railway. It’s a credit to the staff and apprentices, that they could undertake such complicated work.

One hopes that they kept track of all those bits!