The Consett works’ first diesel locomotives arrived in 1947, and several types were bought from specialist locomotive builders. None of them was suitable for the heaviest duties in the steelworks, so the company decided to build two locomotives in its own workshops. Since the earliest ‘travelling engines’ of George Stephenson, colliery and industrial railways in the North East had often built their own locomotives. No. 10 was to be the last of these.

The design is based on engines built by the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds. Only the power unit and wheels were bought in; everything else was either recycled from old locomotives or made in the workshops. No. 10 was donated to Tyne & Wear Museums by the British Steel Corporation in 1976. The Consett steelworks closed down in 1980.