The Isle of Man Railway’s second locomotive, No.2 Derby was part of the original batch of three identical steam locomotives delivered from the Gorton Foundry of Beyer, Peacock & Co., for the opening of the Peel Line on 1st July 1873 and was named after the Earls of Derby, one-time owners of the island before its sale to the British Monarch; it was the middle sister to No.1 Sutherland and No.3 Pender, both of which survive.

After twenty years of service, the first replacement boiler was fitted to this locomotive in 1893 which was again supplied by Beyer, Peacock & Co., following similar attention to No.6 Peveril the previous year.  This was used for another nineteen years of regular operation.  In 1912 it was to receive this boiler from No.6 (it had received a new one the previous year) which lasted a further five years.

The locomotive was loaned to the Isle of Man Tramways & Electric Power Company (predecessors of the Manx Electric Railway Co., Ltd.) for construction of their line northwards of Laxey in 1898, thereby being the inspiration for the Steam Under The Wires events in 1993 as part of the electric line’s centenary celebrations.  The image below shows that use and is one of relatively view images of the locomotive.

It was withdrawn for major overhauls during the period 1908-1909 and again 1929-1930; in 1917 it was refitted with its own original boiler which had been overhauled and served until 1921 when the donor boiler from No.5 Mona (itself a replacement and dating from 1895).  Then in 1923 its final boiler, known as a “Bradshaw Boiler” with one Ross “pop” valve in the dome and the other between the dome and chimney. 

The locomotive was withdrawn with a weak boiler which was twenty-eight years old at the time, in 1951 and partially dismantled, and later for use as spare parts for the active fleet.  The main frames survived in store for many years were scrapped in 1980 leaving only the pony truck today; the nameplates survive and remain in the safekeeping of the railway though the worksplates are long since lost to history.

It has the dubious honour of being the only locomotive on the railway to have been lost to the pages of history, save for the pony truck - these spent several years at the end of the Birkenhead Siding at Port Erin Station with “No.4 Try These” chalked on, and have  in more recent years been fully overhauled for use as spare set on the active fleet now fitted with modern roller bearings which have become standard over time.