The Railway Magazine – July 2019

Ex-North Pembroke & Fishguard Railway Fox,Walker 0-6-0STMargaret(410/1878,

rebuilt Swindon 1904) has been on display in the open at Scolton Manor Museum,

near Haverfordwest, since the late-1970s, and recent photographs show the level of

deterioration that has resulted. This historic locomotive must be regarded as‘at risk’.

TheTanfield Railway has a wonderful collection of industrial steam locomotives, but

limitations on resources mean that many are out of operation, and some are sadly in the

open. Black, Hawthorn 0-4-0STCityofAberdeen(912/1887) is fortunately under cover,

but has suffered some plate-work damage.This locomotive was the prototype for a

design with a wider tank used by the Swansea & Mumbles Railway.

A rare picture in daylight of Brush 0-4-0ST No. 314, built in 1906, one of fewer than 10 steam survivors from this

manufacturer. The loco was displayed at Snibston Discovery Museum at Coalville, Leicestershire until four years

ago, and is now at the Mountsorrel & Rothley Heritage Centre, close to the Great Central Railway.

MOUNTSORREL & ROTHLEY HERITAGE CENTRE/FACEBOOK

Forgotten

Mark Smithersconsiders

several important

examples of narrow gauge

andindustrialsteam

locomotives which are not

currently in the forefront

of public attention.

O

ne of the more sobering aspects of

the current domestic heritage railway

scene is the large number of historic

steam locomotives that can for one

or more reasons be regarded as ‘forgotten’ by

many visitors to preserved railways and railway

museums.

The reasons these locomotives may be

regarded as such can vary from being locked

away from public view, to having been

overlooked for restoration to working order, and

in the most extreme of circumstances, being in

serious danger of being lost altogether through

neglect. Before attempting to detail the more

significant examples, it must be emphasised in a

world of finite resources it is not always possible

to achieve the optimum restoration outcome,

and this fact often accounts for the issues

discussed in this feature.

Outofsight

From the narrow-gauge point of view,

examples not on current public view can be

found in the museum collection of the Vale of

Rheidol Railway (VoR).

Apart from ‘Quarry Hunslet’ 0-4-0ST

Margaret– which regularly finds employment

on ‘Driver for a Fiver’ duties’ – and ‘roving

ambassador’ Kerr, Stuart 0-4-0ST (W/

No. 3114), the other members of the collection

are stored on a site in Ceredigion and in rural

Surrey.

As can be seen from the accompanying

table, the VoR museum collection includes such

British-built classics as 1877 vintage de Winton

0-4-0VBTKathleen; two Falcon-built ‘Lawley’

‘NG6’ class 4-4-0 tender locomotives; a Bagnall

0-4-4T that once saw service in Hong Kong;

and two ex-Gwalior Railway Bagnall ‘Pacifics’.

As to the prospect of seeing any of

these items on public display, the recent

announcement of the £2.2million enhancement

of the VoR’s Aberystwyth terminus under the

Wales to the World initiative is the key to placing

them on public display.

Phase four of this scheme (to be completed

by 2020) provides for a new 5,000sq ft display

space to be created in the old standard-gauge

locomotive shed, although some of this would

be required for the ‘resting’ members of the

railway’s current operational locomotive and

rolling stock fleet. The provision of a new ‘main

museum’ incorporating a comprehensive display

of the VoR collection may still be several years

away, with the ongoing developments freeing up

of space to allow for this to take effect.

Before leaving the subject of this collection,

it should be noted the Surrey site also houses

several additional locomotives privately owned

by VoR chairman Peter Rampton.

These include the unique surviving Avonside

‘Heisler’ (V-cylinder) 0-4-4-0TRenishaw No. 5

(2057/1931), imported from South Africa.

The Vale of Rheidol Railway has also

offered temporary storage of the Narrow Gauge

Railway Museum’s former Cilgwyn and Penrhyn

Quarry Manning, Wardle 0-4-0STJubilee 1897.

Following its withdrawal from service in the

1950s and a few years of languishing on the scrap

line at Coed-y-Parc workshops, it was acquired

for preservation by the Narrow Gauge Railway

Museum at Tywyn.

Controversial

In 2016, the locomotive was placed on

loan to PQR Engineering Ltd for restoration

to working order in the old Coed-y-Parc

workshops, but in July the following year this

concern left its Felin Fawr base along with the

rolling stock that had been hitherto based at the

site.

The original intention prior to leaving the

site was thatJubilee 1897would be restored as if

it had finished working in the quarry yesterday.

This in many ways is the most controversial

part of the restoration objective. Although

there is understandably much nostalgia among

narrow-gauge enthusiasts for the latter days of

the Penrhyn Quarry system – given the media

coverage of this period –Jubilee 1897has been

Gems

July 2019 •The Railway Magazine•55

PRESERVATIONFOCUS