Engines from our Collection

Compiled by Gareth Jones

Ruston Proctor ZLH Paraffin Locomotive

This paraffin mechanical locomotive is believed to be the oldest narrow gauge internal combustion locomotive in the British Isles. It is still in original condition. It was constructed to a gauge of 3’3” (metre gauge). Its original identity is unknown, it is either No 50823 of 1915 or No 51168 of 1916 Built for service at for the Cotton Powder Co of Faversham, Kent. It’s intermediate history is unknown but we know it ended its days at English China Clay’s Blackpool Works in St Austell, Cornwall although its use was minimal. It was saved for preservation by Rich Morris in 1963 moving to Kent. In 1978 it moved to Gloddfa Ganol in Blaenau Ffestiniog before being acquired by the Vale of Rheidol Railway in 1997. Restoration was started by Allen Civil and will be completed in the VoR workshops. A similar locomotive, No 52124 of 1918 is on static display at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.

Left: Locomotive 52124 of 1918, On static display at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life Right: Hudswell Clarke D564 and Ruston Proctor await their turn in the overhaul queue

Compiled by Gareth Jones

Still from a youtube video by earthfire featuring NG15 No.17 at Sandstaone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwQPC_NIoUY

SAR NG15 (2-8-2)

The South African NG15 class engines were built by two different companies over a period of 26 years with the first batch being built in 1931 and the last as recently as 1957, with the class eventually totalling 21 engines. Built as a development of the earlier South African NG5 class they were originally ordered by South African Railways (SAR) for use on the Otavi Railway in South West Africa. The NG15 engines were built with a clever solution to help negotiate the tight curves typical of narrow gauge railways, they featured a Krauss-Helmholtz Bissel Truck, this meant the leading driving wheels of the engine had some sideplay and had the leading Bissel Truck linked to it, this helped to steer the engines into the tighter curves. They were built in five batches, loco numbers NG17-NG19 were the first being built in 1931 by the Henschel und Sohn company in Kassel, Germany. The second Batch of locos numbered NG117-NG119 were completed in 1938 also by Henschel. The next two batches loco numbers NG120-NG124 (built 1938) and NG132-NG136 (built 1952), were completed by a different company Société Anglo-Franco Belge. (The Franco-Belge company had been split into two separate businesses in 1927, becoming the Belgian Société Anglo-Franco Belge and the French Société Franco Belge.) The

final batch of five engines were completed by Henschel and were initially numbered TC1 - TC5 having been purchased by SAR for use on trains with the Tsumeb Copper Corporation, they later became NG144 - NG148. In 1960 the Otavi Railway was regauged to Cape Gauge and all 21 locomotives were transferred to the Eastern Cape and put to use on the line that ran between Port Elizabeth and Avontuur. The arrival of the twenty one NG15’s on the Avontuur line almost doubled the number of engines on the line when they were delivered, taking the number of locomotives from 23 to 43. Whilst on the Avontuur Railway the NG15s gained the nickname ‘Kalahari’s’ taken from their previous region of operation. The class become favourites of the loco crews on the line due to having more space on the footplate, being fast and free steaming, they also had similar haulage capacity to the Garratts that had been the mainstay of operations on the line prior to the arrival of these engines. In the Vale of Rheidol Collection there are two NG15s: the Société Franco Belge built NG121 and the Henschel built NG146. When researching the history of our two engines one presented more of a challenge than the other. NG121 was a challenge to research with only one photograph being found of the engine to date on the Soul of a Railway Website (A fantastic website for fans of all things South African Railways), this featured the engine derailed after an altercation with a double decker bus. Little other mention of the engine seemed to have been available. NG146 on the other hand has had a much higher profile, and a much more photographed career. Upon the Avontuur line converting to diesel use, it was sold to a private owner and employed on the Alfred County Railway where it was the sole NG15 in use and very popular with photographers and enthusiasts alike, remaining operational until 1998 when it was last used for the tourist Banana Express trains alongside the remaining NGG16 engines. NG146 was moved to the docks in South Africa in September 2001 from where it was imported to the UK, going initially to the Brecon Mountain Railway before moving to the VoR’s Surrey site.

Research for this article on the collection have been compiled from the following sources; https://sites.google.com/site/soulorailway/soul-of-a-railway?authuser=0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Class_NG15_2-8-2

Further information on our Lawley engines from John Browning;

We can be sure that Falcon 265 and 266 were brought to the UK by Peter Court as part of a large consignment of locomotives from Mozambique in or about 2000. John Middleton, a notable researcher on industrial railways in southern Africa, indicates that they came from Buzi Sugar Estate. The company had up to five Lawleys, not all of which have been identified. Some at least were in use at Buzi in the first decade of the 20th Century. Four were said to be in use in 1963. Three were left in 1969, dumped. One of these, named M’DUNDO, was later plinthed at the Mill Club and is one of the ones you have. The other you have may be the one that was named LISBOA. The third that survived after 1969 was named LUZITANIA. A series of photos of the Lawley locos derelict at Buzi commences here; https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/safari/mozambique501.htm

Thanks John for the extra details.

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