140 is one of four Beyer-Garratt NGG16 (2-6-2 + 2-6-2T) locomotives, formerly from South Africa, that provide the power for the new Welsh Highland Railway. These are the most powerful narrow gauge locos in the world, which is necessary to cope with the hard gradients of up to 1 in 40 along the line pulling up to 12 coaches.

No. 140 was part of the final batch of Beyer-Peacock engines built in Manchester (with 138 and 143) and was donated to the WHR by a group of German and Swiss enthusiasts. She remained in store at the FR’s Glan-y-Pwll depot, near Blaenau Ffestiniog for a number of years, awaiting her turn in the restoration queue. She is painted in a bright red Alfred County Railway (ACR) livery and has been nicknamed “The red devil”. She remained in action on the ACR until the early 1990s, when after a suspected vandal attack, she was placed into store having lost much brass and copper.

In late 2002, she was moved out of the carriage shed at Glan-y-Pwll and into the yard, moving to Dinas in early 2005. She is required to be operational when the railway opens through to Porthmadog in 2009 and also because 138 and 143 will soon require work to their boilers and a programme of ‘boiler-swapping’ will occur. 140's boiler will be finished in time for it to be used in 138 in 2007, 138's boiler will then be overhauled and fitted to 143 in 2008, and 140 will finally enter service with 143’s boiler. This illustrates the benefits of having a core fleet of similar locomotives.

Much work has already been completed at Dinas, including the stripping down of both power bogies and boiler cladding and this continues.

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140 outside Glan y Pwll depot on the Ffestiniog Railway - May 1997.