Narrow Gauge
WITH the main operating season now in full swing, a trio of steam locomotives have taken up residence at different heritage railway venues – including one which has moved to Eastern Europe.
Firstly, with cosmetic restoration of ex-Eastwell Iron Ore Company 3ft gauge Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST Lord Granby completed, on April 29 Eastwell History Group moved the loco about two miles from its Stathern Lodge workshop to a purpose-built shed at Crossways Farm, Eastwell. This building, intended to become an Eastwell railway museum, is on the edge of the village a short distance from the winding house at the top of the incline which was a notable feature of the old Eastwell rail system.
The project commenced in 2013 when Lord Granby left Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills, to which it had been gifted in 1961, to enter the care of Eastwell History Group on a 20-year loan. The extensive cosmetic restoration has been undertaken by volunteers.
Wales
Bagnall 4-4-0T (2287/1926) arrived at the Teifi Valley Railway (TVR) on April 4, on loan for an initial five years. The loco has been pressure tested but does not have a steam test certificate so is not expected is one of three similar, but not identical, Bagnall 4-4-0Ts imported from Natal, South Africa by Graeme Walton-Binns in the 1990s.
