Lyn locomotive

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Lyn

Lyn in Early L&B livery
Power type	Steam
Builder	Baldwin Locomotive Works(USA)
Serial number	15965
Build date	May 1898
Configuration	2-4-2
Gauge	1 ft 11.5 in
Leading wheel size	1 ft 10 in
Driver size	2 ft 9 in
Trailing wheel size	1 ft 10 in
Wheelbase	5 ft 0 in fixed 17 ft 7 in total
Length	23 ft 6 in over buffer beams
Width	7 ft 2 in
Height	8 ft 11 in
Total weight	22 Tons
Fuel type	coal
Fire grate area	7.7 sq ft
Heating surface: Total	379.2 sq ft
Cylinders	2
Cylinder size	10 in x 16 in
Valve gear	Stephenson
Career	Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
Number	E762 (post-1923)
Locale	Devon, South West England
Last run	September 1935
Scrapped	December 1935

Baldwin 2-4-2T built 1898 for Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Scrapped 1935

Lyn, like all the locomotives on the L&B, was named after the River Lyn, a local watercourse with a three-letter name.

Perchance it "is not dead but sleepeth" - Inspiring the L&B Project

As described by JW Dorling, writing in The Railway Magazine a month after the event, on Monday 30 September 1935, the day after the railway closed, Barnstaple Town stationmaster Harold Ford and Porter Guard Walkey laid a wreath of bronze crysanthemums on the Barnstaple Town Station stop block. Sent by Paymaster Captain Thomas Alfred Woolf, R.N. (Retd.), of Woody Bay.

The wreath bore a black-edged postcard, hand-written on both sides:

TO BARNSTAPLE & LYNTON RAILWAY WITH REGRET & SORROW FROM A CONSTANT USER AND ADMIRER

Perchance it "is not dead but sleepeth"

Captain Woolf died on 12 May 1937, aged 55 and is buried in Martinhoe Churchyard. Each September, at the Woody Bay Steam Gala, a wreath of bronze crysanthemums is carried on the pilot loco, and afterwards, laid on the Captain's grave in remembrance, and as thanks for his inspirational words.

The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Association was founded in 1979, intending to restore the line to its former glory, serving tourists and the local community alike, making the Captain's prophesy a reality.

Headed by the Association (now the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Trust), a number of groups, and over 1500 volunteers, run The L&B Project, researching, restoring, rebuilding and operating the railway, from its base at Woody Bay station.

The tradition of naming L&B steam locos after local watercourses continues into the 21st Century, with Lyd, a replica of Lew (the fourth and final locomotive built to this basic design), being built on the Ffestiniog railway by a group associated with that line and the Welsh Highland Railway

Closer to The L&B, the railway's trust currently owns one steam locomotive - renamed Axe - which although it did not serve on the historic L&B, is being rebuilt for eventual use on the new line, currently centred at Woody Bay.