One of Bradford’s oldest companies, which specialises in making and repairing boilers for heritage steam railways, has landed a major new order.

Israel Newton and Sons, based at All Alone Road, Idle, is to make a new boiler for a reproduction 19th Century steam locomotive being built for the Corris Railway Society.

The £250,000 locomotive will be a re-creation of one of the original three Corris engines which operated on the narrow-gauge railway which ran up the Dulas Valley in Mid-Wales between Machynlleth, Corris and Aberllefenni and served slate quarries and other industrial locations.

A passenger service operated between 1883 and 1930 and the railway closed in 1948.

The Corris Railway Society has already built one new steam engine, a replica of one bought in 1921, which was delivered in 2005 and has since worked trains over a re-opened section of line between Corris and Maespoeth Junction The new boiler should be completed next year and is one of several jobs on the books at Israel Newton, which was founded in 1803 and has occupied its present works since 1905.

Managing director Gordon Newton, the sixth generation of his family to run the firm, said the company had focused on making, repairing and refurbishing boilers for heritage railways and for traction engines since 1979.

He said: “Specialising in the heritage field has enabled us to keep busy and we’ve currently enough work to take us into next year.

“Since 1979, I suppose we’ve built up a reputation for this sort of work. The level of orders depends on how well the various societies can raise funds for restoration projects but we’ve managed to keep busy.”

Newton has worked on boilers for several heritage railways in Wales, including the Welsh Highland Railway, as well as the Keighley & Worth Valley railway, the Embsay railway, near Skipton, and the Middleton railway in Leeds.

Peter Guest , project manager for the Corris Railway Society, said: “We have been delighted to be able to place the contract for the boiler with such a well-known and long-established firm as Israel Newton and look forward to working with them as part of restoring our industrial heritage.

“The first part of building a new steam locomotive always seems the slowest with the need for the preparation of the many engineering drawings required but we are now reaching the metal cutting, shaping and construction stages and we plan to press forward as quickly as fund-raising will allow.”

Find out more about the Corris Railway Society at corris.co.uk or Corris Railway Society, 42 Bluebell Close, Taunton, TA1 3XQ.