Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway locomotives
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This article gives details of the locomotives used on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a 1 ft 3 in (381 mm) narrow gauge preserved railway line running for 7 miles (11 km) from Ravenglass on the Cumbrian coast to Dalegarth near the village of Boot, in Eskdale.
[edit] Steam Locomotives
[edit] No. 1 Sans Pareil
The first 15" gauge locomotive operated on the line, built by Bassett-Lowke of Northampton in 1912 as Prins Olaf for a railway in Cristiania (now Oslo), Norway. It arrived for the line's opening in 1915 to Muncaster Mill. It was a Bassett-Lowke Class 30 4-4-2 locomotive and was painted in the dark blue livery of Narrow Gauge Railways. It was withdrawn from traffic in the mid 1920s and parts of it were incorporated into River Mite of 1927. Its leading pony truck was reused under the Passenger Tractor of 1929 for many years. An identical locomotive, Synolda, now resides in Ravenglass railway museum.
[edit] No. 2 Colossus
A Bassett-Lowke Class 60 4-6-2, built in 1913 for Captain JE Howey, later of Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway fame, and named John Anthony. It arrived at the same time as Katie in 1916 and was nearly destroyed in a collision with Muriel in 1925, however it ran after overhaul until 1927, when it was dismantled and utilised as part of the new River Mite 4-6-0-0-6-4 four-cylindered locomotive.
[edit] No. 3 Muriel, then River Irt
A 0-8-0T, constructed for the Duffield Bank Railway by Sir Arthur Heywood in 1894. It arrived in Ravenglass via the Gretna munitions factory in 1917 with Ella and was principally used on stone trains. It received a major overhaul and rebuilt at Murthwaite in 1927, becoming a 0-8-2 tender locomotive named River Irt. It has remained in traffic on passenger duties ever since and is now the oldest working 15" gauge locomotive in the world. In 1972 it was rebuilt to a narrow gauge outline, and was then reboilered in 1977, giving the locomotive its current appearance. It has visited the National Railway Museum in York and was part of the Ratty fleet at the Liverpool and Gateshead Garden Festival Railways in 1984 and 1990. The livery of the loco is currently mid-green with yellow and black lining.
[edit] No. 4 Ella
Sir Arthur Heywood's 0-6-0T of 1881, built for his Duffield Bank Railway, it arrived with Muriel in 1917. Ten years later came the decision to convert the locomotive into an Internal Combustion machine, after years of regular use on granite trains from Beckfoot quarry. Its frames became part of ICL No. 2.
[edit] No. 5 Sir Aubrey Brocklebank
A 4-6-2 tender locomotive, similar to Colossus, built by Hunt of Southampton in 1919. The engine became the railway's new flagship locomotive on passenger duties and replaced Sans Pareil on in everyday usage. In 1927 the engine was dismantled and used in the construction of the new River Mite locomotive, the running gear of the locomotive combined with that of Colossus gave the railway a new four-cylindered machine for the 1928 season.
[edit] No. 6 Katie
A 0-4-0T built by Sir Arthur Heywood in 1896 for the Duke of Westminster's Eaton Hall Railway. It came to Ravenglass in 1916 and left in 1919. Few photographs survive of it working in Cumbria, however the remains of the locomotive returned to the railway in 1982 after spells at Llewellyn's Miniature Railway, Southport and the Fairbourne Railway, Wales. In 1992, the R&ER Heritage Group for formed, with an aim to restore the locomotive to original condition, a project which is now well underway, with the boiler mounted on the frames.
[edit] No. 7 River Esk
Built in 1923 as a 2-8-2 by Davey Paxman of Colchester and designed by Henry Greenly, it was first employed on stone trains, however soon found more use on passenger traffic. During a rebuild in 1928 by the Yorkshire Engine Co., the engine received a Poultney steam tender, making the loco a 2-8-2-0-8-0. This proved unsuccessful and was soon removed, instead being utilised nearly forty years later as part of the second River Mite, after languishing at Murthwaite. The locomotive survived into the preservation era and received a new tender in 1970 along with a new livery of LNWR black. In the 1980s, the Esk was fitted with a gas-producer boiler and received an award from British Coal, however this has been replaced in recent years. The locomotive has visited the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway several times and was a predecessor to that railway's Greenly Pacific locomotives. The engine is currently in Blackberry Black of the LNWR with red, off-white and black lining.
[edit] No. 8 River Mite (I)
Constructed at Murthwaite with a new boiler and the running gear of Colossus and Sir Aubrey Brocklebank in 1927, the first River Mite was an unsuccessful four-cylindered locomotive of the railway's own design. It lasted a decade in traffic before scrapping, the locomotive being too lightly built for the amount of work and the steepness of the gradients of the line.
[edit] No. 9 River Mite (II)
Using the former Poultney tender chassis, fitted to River Esk from 1928, the new Preservation Society designed a 2-8-2 locomotive, which was built by Clarksons of York in 1966. It is in many ways similar to the Esk, sharing a miniature outline. After overhauls in 1978 and 2006/7, it celebrated its fortieth year at Ravenglass in 2007 and is owned by the R&ER Preservation Society. The locomotive is in the Indian Red livery of the Furness Railway, with vermillion and black lining.
[edit] No. 10 Northern Rock
After undertaking trials with the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway no. 2, Northern Chief in 1972, the railway company decided to construct a new 2-6-2 locomotive, originally to be named Sir Arthur Heywood. The railway received funding from the Northern Rock building society and so the locomotive was named after its chief sponsor. It entered traffic in 1976 and has visited many railways, as far away as Dresden, Germany, to publicise the railway. Two similar locomotives have been built at Ravenglass for the Shuzenji Romney Railway in Japan, Northern Rock II and Cumbria, in 1989 and 1992, respectively. The livery of the engine is Highland Railway Muscat Green with red and dark green lining.
[edit] No. 11 Bonnie Dundee
Originally a 2' gauge 0-4-0WT built by Kerr Stuart in 1900 for Dundee gasworks, the engine was bought by Ian Fraser and donated to the railway in 1976. After a rebuild, it emerged as a 0-4-2T in 1982 and was mainly used on winter trains. 1996 saw the locomotive rebuilt again, this time incorporating a tender. Now it is out of traffic and is currently on loan to the Windmill Farm Railway in order to publicise the Ratty. The engine is painted in the Bronze Green livery of the North British Railway.
[edit] Synolda
Sister locomotive to Sans Pareil, built in 1912 by Bassett-Lowke of Northampton. It arrived at the Ratty in 1978 and was restored to running condition in two years by apprentices from British Nuclear Fuels at the nearby Sellafield. It currently resides in Ravenglass, museum, however the locomotive is in operational condition and appears in steam at special events. The livery is Royal Blue of Narrow Gauge Railways.
[edit] The Flower of the Forest
An 0-4-0 vertical boilered tank engine, built for Ian Fraser of Arbroath in 1987. After Fraser's death in 1992, the engine returned to Ravenglass and operated during gala and "Thomas" events in the 1990s. It is now stored unservicable in the Ravenglass museum compound. The livery is that of the North Eastern Railway.
[edit] Internal Combustion Locomotives
[edit] No. 1 Bunny
A rebuild of the Crewe Tractor, a rail-mounted Ford Model-T engine with a 0-2-2 wheel arrangement and a built-in turntable in order for it to change direction. The engine was rebuilt in 1925, giving a 2-B petrol mechanical locomotive with a wooden hut for a body. This body lasted until 1928, whereupon it was destroyed in a collision with ICL No. 2. It received its current body then, when it also received extensive repairs. It continued in use but was superseded by other locos, until it was gutted in the 1960s and became a caboose for the permanent way gang. It is now undergoing restoration to working condition.
[edit] No. 2
1927 saw the appearance of this 2-6-2 petrol mechanical locomotive, stemming from a Lanchester Model 38 touring car chassis mounted on the frames of Ella. The engine and gearbox had been retained from the Lanchester and the engine had a teak hut, similar to that carried on ICL No. 1. It collided with its predecessor in 1928 and the frame was distorted, pushing a big-end through the crank case the following year spelled the locomotive's doom, it being retired once the standard gauge line to Murthwaite was constructed.
[edit] No. 3 NG 41
Chronologically, NG 41 was the third of the Muir-Hill Fordson tractors to be acquired by the railway. It was built in 1929 in Manchester and bought by the railway in order to haul stone trains between Ravenglass, Murthwaite Crushing Plant and Beckfoot Quarry. In 1953, when the quarry closed, NG 41 was cannibalised for parts for the other two Fordson locomotives.
[edit] No. 4 Passenger Tractor, then Perkins
NG 39 was the second Muir-Hill Fordson tractor to be bought by the railway for quarry traffic. It arrived in 1929, two years after the original tractor, and was rebuilt as a steam-outline diesel 0-4-4 in 1931 for use on passenger trains. In this guise it was named the Passenger Tractor and nicknamed Pretender. It worked through the war and the first passenger services after the end of the conflict. In 1975 the petrol engine was replaced with a Perkins P6 diesel, giving the loco a modern radiator grill at the front. In 1984, the engine was rebuilt again, however this time it lost its fake steam outline and became similar to an industrial diesel shunter. It was named Perkins in 1985 and was re-engined again in 1990. Its main use is on permanent way trains. It is currently painted yellow and black.
[edit] No. 5 Quarryman
The first Muir-Hill quarry tractor arrived in 1927 for use on the granite traffic. In 1953 it gained an open-backed cab after cannibalisation with NG 41. It was for a time used on relief passenger services with the Passenger Tractor. Up until 1975 it was used on works trains and has now been restored to original condition and it is currently operational and saw usage on permanent way duties, specifically ballast trains, in Winter 2007.
[edit] No. 6 Royal Anchor
An experimental B-B diesel hydraulic locomotive acquired by the railway in 1961 from the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, who had trialled it and found it not powerful enough. It was built in 1956 by Charles Lane of the Royal Anchor hotel in Hampshire. It uses a Ford 4D engine and could haul four full open bogie coaches. In 1978 it was sold on to Steamtown, Carnforth, however when this railway closed to the public, David Smith of Carnforth then sold them to American film director Francis Ford Coppola in 2000 for use on a railway in one of his Californian vineyards. The engine first went to the Golden Gate Railroad Museum for repairs however the locomotive is currently in storage on the Coppola estate.
[edit] No. 7 Shelagh of Eskdale
Tom Jones' Diesel was a 4-6-4 diesel hydraulic locomotive partially built by Heathcotes of Cleator Moor in the 1950s. When the line closed and was then re-opened again, the construction was put on hold, however in 1969 the frames were sent away to Severn-Lamb of Stratford-on-Avon for completion. The chassis utilises parts from Ella, specifically the crankwebs and centre sliding axle. Originally the engine was a Ford 4D, as in Royal Anchor, and had a Linde hydrostatic transmission, however this was replaced in 1975 by a Perkins 6/354. In 1998 the engine was rebuilt into a diesel mechanical locomotive when it gained a Ford industrial engine with Spicer Compact Shuttle transmission. It is currently a mixed traffic engine and used throughout the year. Its livery is two-tone green.
[edit] Silver Jubilee
The Silver Jubilee railcar was a set of coaches which first appeared in an embryonic stage in 1975 as a single coach fitted with an engine. The three-car unit with named and launched in 1977 at the inauguration of the railway's radio control system, the extra coaches being a driving trailer at the rear and a centre saloon, which was later modified for wheelchair access. 1983 saw both driving coaches fitted with automatic gearboxes. In 1984 it went to the Liverpool Garden Festival Railway, with an extra semi-open coach added in the middle of the formation, and for this event it first carried the BR InterCity Executive livery, the first vehicles in the country to do so, using the official BR paint. During its time, the set was used on the "overnight" trains and during the winter. It was finally withdrawn after a trial visit to the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway in 2003, and has now been converted back into coaching stock. The centre saloon is coach number 123, the centre semi-open number 126, the driving trailer saloon 136 and the driving saloon is being converted into disabled saloon 137.
[edit] No. 8 Lady Wakefield
Lady Wakefield, known colloquially as Doris, is a B-B diesel hydraulic locomotive built at Ravenglass in 1980 and designed by Ian Smith, the railway's chief engineer at the time. It was built with a Perkins 6/354 engine, identical to that which was in Shelagh of Eskdale at the time. The engine also has a Twin Disc gearbox and driveshafts to each bogie, along with chain-coupled wheels. Shortly after commissioning in August 1980, the engine went to Romney to prove diesel traction on the RH&DR. It became the basis for their two diesel engines, John Southland and Captain Howey. While at Romney, it showed that a single diesel locomotive was capable of pulling the heavy sixteen coach school train. The engine was also used as the template for the 12.5" gauge diesel, Lady of the Lakes, for the Ruislip Lido Railway, which was constructed at Ravenglass. It has just returned from a lengthy rebuild and overhaul of the engine and will be used on permanent way duties and secondary passenger works in the summer. It is named after the wife of Lord Wavell Wakefield. It currently carries British Railways Brunswick Green livery with small yellow warning panels, like a Class 20.
[edit] Greenbat
Greenbat, also known as U2, is one of many battery electric locomotives that were built in Leeds by Greenwood & Batley. This particular engine was built in 1957 for Thomas Marshall & Co. of Storrs Bridge Fireclay Mine in Yorkshire. Its builders number is 2872 and was originally built to a rare and unusual gauge of 16". When the mine closed, the engine was brought to Ravenglass in 1982, where the wheels were reprofiled to the Ratty's gauge and then became a versatile engine for shunting coaching stock with. It awaits refurbishment at Ravenglass.
[edit] No. 9 Cyril
Named after former company employee, Cyril Holland, Cyril is owned by the Murthwaite Locomotive Group, formerly named "Shabtrak", and is one of many industrial narrow gauge diesels built by R.A. Listers. It was built in 1932, used on a Peat Bog railway not far from Manchester and first preserved at the Moseley Railway Trust, in Stockport, in its original form of an open sided cab and on 2' gauge. When the engine arrived on the Ratty in 1985, the volunteers of "Shabtrak" used parts from another Lister locomotive and a 2-cylinder, 12 horsepower Lister engine to rebuild it to 15" gauge, and fitted a new cab and bonnet, in the style of a Lister Blackstone RM2. The engine now has full electrics, radio and air brake systems for working light passenger trains in emergencies, and in 1989 was re-engined with a 20 h.p. Lister engine to improve performance. It was rebodied in 2006 by Ian Page Engineering of Millom. It is currently painted dark green.
[edit] Blacolvesley
Owned by Bob Tebb, Blacolvesley is the oldest workable internal combustion locomotive in the world. It was built by Bassett-Lowke in 1909 utilising parts of Henry Greenly's Class 10 Atlantic locomotives. Originally, it was fitted with a NAG 12/14 h.p. engine, which was later replaced with an Austin 8 engine. However, the original transmission, gearbox and bevel drive all remain in use. It was built for Charles Bartholomew of Blakesley Hall, but the engine has had a varied history. It was named "Elizabeth" and worked on the railway at Lightwater Valley up until 1994, although had been inoperable since the mid 1970s. When it arrived at Ravenglass, it was successfully restarted and operated in August 1994. It is now painted in its original colours once again and operates at gala events.
[edit] No. 10 Les
Les is a unique Lister diesel locomotive, the only 15" gauge locomotive ever constructed by R.A. Lister, which was built in 1960 for Mr J. Lemon-Burton, of West Sussex. When he died, the engine went to the Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway in Kent. Here it gained the number 21 and the present name and livery. The engine's top speed is 7 mph and is used by the fitters for minor shunting activities in the confines of Ravenglass station. It is currently in Lister dark green with cream stripes at one end.
[edit] No. 11 Douglas Ferreira
In July 2004, the R&ER Preservation Society placed an order with TMA Engineering of Birmingham for a new B-B diesel hydraulic locomotive, which was to be funded by the Society. It was delivered the following year and named after the recently-deceased former General Manager, Douglas Ferreira. It is a Diesel Hydraulic locomotive, with a Perkins 4-cylinder turbocharged engine, which is more compact yet even more powerful than that on Lady Wakefield, and is essentially a development of the quarter-century elder loco. The engine has already proved to be a great success and quite revolutionary, using a low-emissions power unit. It has been in almost daily service since its commissioning and is easy to operate, service and maintain. It is leased by the society to the company, carrying a Furness Railway Indian Red livery identical to that on River Mite.
