Novel Use For Condemned Engine

Usually when an engine is withdrawn from traffic and consigned to scrap, it seldom, if ever, is heard of again in its original form. Strange, then, is the experience of the old Highland Railway engine of the large "Ben" class - Ben Achaoruinn, No. 14422 - built in 1909 and withdrawn at the beginning of March last. Partially dismantled, this old "Ben" has had a temporary reprieve from further destruction to serve a purpose far removed from the activities of a railway locomotive.

A new boiler had to be installed in the laundry serving the station and station hotel at Inverness, and to permit the dismantling of the old one, and erection of the new, without interruption to the services, the old engine was propelled to a bay in the station close to the laundry premises, where, as the photo shows, a 3-inch steam pipe was connected from the engine boiler to the steam supply pipes underground leading to the laundry, hotel and District Office Buildings.
Source: LMS Magazine, June 1937