From Owd to La'al Ratty
From Owd to La'al Ratty
In two previous post I detailed the history of the “Owd Ratty”. The orignal 3 foot gauge Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway which operated between 1875 & 1913. You can find these posts Part 1 & Part 2
In 1915 model makers Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke & Robert Proctor-Mitchell were looking for somewhere to test their own locomotives. They came across the disused “Owd Ratty” and quickly set about regauging the line. The section between Ravenglass and Muncaster was the first to reopen in late August of 1915. Most of the line was converted in sections from 1917. But it wasn’t till the mid-1920s that the present-day terminus at Dalegarth was reached. For a time the line did run into the old station at Boot. But the gradients on that section of the line were too much for the scale engines. The current terminus at Dalegarth lies part way along the Ghyll force branch.
The line was initially ran using 4-4-2 “Sans Pareil” and seven 4 wheel coaches. A similar engine to “Sans Pareil” named “Synolda” can be found in the railways museum at Ravenglass. An appeal to fund the overhaul of Synolda can be found here.
“Sans Pareil” was joined in 1916 by Bassett-Lowke Class 60 “Colossus” and Heywood 0-4-0T "Katie" (pictured below). “Katie” has recently been restored by Station Road Steam. The engine was built in 1896 by Sir Arthur Heywood at his Duffield bank railway works for use on the private Eaton Hall Railway in Cheshire. It arrived at Ravenglass in 1916 but had been sold by 1920. She had been thought scrapped but her frames were found at Fairbourne railway in mid Wales.
“Synolda” inside the railways museum.
Following the death of Sir Arthur Heywood 0-6-0T “Ella” and 0-8-0T “Murriel” and a number of items of rolling stock including fully closed saloons moved to the Ratty.
In 1919 local landowner “Sir Aubrey Brocklebank” paid for a new locomotive. It was based on “Colossus” and was built by Hunt of Southampton. Parts from “Colossus” & “Sir Aubrey Brocklebank” were later used to build the first River Mite. The Gigantic Locomotive Company plan to build a replica of “Colossus”.
Parts from Ella were used to build ICL No.2 in 1927. The frames are on display in the museum and some other parts have been used on diesel "Shelagh of Eskdale".
“Muriel” was rebuilt into "River Irt" during a major overhaul in 1927. It holds the record as the oldest working 15inch gauge loco in the world. It was rebuilt in 1972 with taller fittings and given a new larger boiler in 1977.
The Granite quarry at Beckfoot was the railways other main source of traffic. But, the railway struggled to run stone trains and the timetabled passenger trains. This was solved by laying a standard gauge line between Murthwaite Crushing plant and Ravenglass. The 15inch was laid in the center of the standard gauge track in a similar fashion to how Beamish have in the above picture.
In 1946 the Keswick Granite company purchased the line. Quarrying at Beckfoot finished in 1953 and the line once again became dependent on passenger trains. It was put up for sale in 1958 and by 1960 they feared that if a buyer could not be found then the line would close permanently. Thankfully a preservation society was formed to save the railway.
The standard gauge Kerr Stuart diesel (pictured below) that worked trains between Murthwaite and Ravenglass is now based at the Foxfield Raiwlay in Staffordshire. The diesel was sold in 1955 to the National Coal Board, for use in County Durham, later ending up in Litchfield, Staffordshire.
2-8-2 "River Esk" was built in 1923 by Davey Paxman. it was designed to haul both passenger and stone traffic. During a 1928 rebuild by the Yorkshire engine company River Esk was fitted with a Poultney steam tender. This made the engine a 2-8-2 0-8-0, this modification provided unsuccessfully and the steam tender was removed. River Esk was damaged in a fire at Ravenglass in 2013. Thankfully the engine has been completely rebuilt and is now once again hauling trains.
The Poulteny steam tender was used to construct the second "River Mite", an engine of similar appearance to River Esk. Work started during the early 1960's and by 1966 the engine had been delivered to Ravenglass. It was built by Clarksons of York. As previously mentioned this is the second engine to carry the name. The first was built over the winter of 1927/28 using parts from Sir Aubrey Brocklebank and Colossus.
River Mite is owned by the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway preservation society and cost around £8,000 to build. It is painted in a livery like that of the Furness Railway. Interestingly the railways closed, and semi open coaches are also painted in Furness railway coaching stock colours.
River Mite was hauled across the Pennines from York by Fowler Road engine "Providence". To celebrate its 50th year Beamish Museum, in county Durham staged a recreation of River Mites delivery. For the occasion Providence again hauled River Mite, but this time it was around Beamish and not over the Pennines. An appeal to help fund the overhaul of River Mite can be found here
In 1971 the railway trialed 4-6-2 “Northern Chief” from the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. This resulted in the railway constructing their own 2-6-2 locomotive at Ravenglass. The engine was to be named “Sir Arthur Heywood”. But, in the end the locomotive was named “Northern Rock” after the bank who provided a lot of the funding for the project.
Two further locomotives to the same design have been built at Ravenglass. “Northern Rock II” built in 1989 and “Cumbria” in 1992 for the Shuzenji Romney Railway in Japan.
"Cumbria" on Shuzenji Romney Railway in Japan. Batholith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In 2015 the preservation launched "Train from Spain" appeal to help fund the purchase and restoration of German 4-6-2 built by Krauss of Munich in 1929. It was built to work at the Ibero-American Exposition. After operating there it was placed into storage and remained there till the 1960's. It was taken, along with a sister engine, to Madrid in Spain where it is thought to have not ran. Jumping ahead to more recent times, it was bought for a planned railway in Barcelona, but this never happened.
The engine is painted in Caledonian Railway blue livery and named "Whillan Beck". Most of the engines rebuild took place at the nearby "Old Farm" in Bouth near Ulverston. A new tender was also constructed for the engine there. Whillan Beck is the name of the beck that passes under the railway at Dalegarth station.
During mid July 2017 Providence was used to take the engine from Direct Rail service's Kingmoor Depot, where there had been an open day to Ravenglass. Whillan Beck entered service during 2018.
The railway currently has two further steam engines which are currently on loan to the Cleethorpes coast light railway. These are Kerr Stuart 0-4-2 tender engine “ Bonnie Dundee” and Vertical boilered tram “Flower of the Forest”.
“Flower of the Forest” was built at Ravenglass in 1987 for a private railway in Arbroath, Scotland. Upon the owner’s death in 1992 it returned to Ravenglass. The below picture shows it stored in the old museum compound. The engine is currently stored at Cleethorpes.
"Bonnie Dundee" was a 2ft gauge well tank made by Kerr Stuart for Dundee Gasworks. It was bought by Ian Fraser (who also owned Flower of the Forest). He latter donated it to the railway who regauged it to 15inch and rebuilt it as a 0-4-2 tank with the side tanks from Heywood loco Ella. It was then rebuilt as a tender engine. Bonnie Dundee was often used during quiet periods, as it could not work bigger trains like Mite and Esk. This led to the loco being stored. It is currently under overhaul at "Old Farm" near Bouth.
Pictured above is one of Bonnie Dundee's sister engines (No.721 of 1901) which is owned by the narrow gauge railway museum and on loan to Beamish Museum. 721 is currently being overhauled at Beamish, so maybe “Bonnie Dundee” and it will meet again at some point in the future.
As well as steam engines the railway also has a sizable fleet of diesel locomotives. Some part of the active fleet and others part of the museum collection, although these are also kept operational.
Internal Combustion Locomotive No.1 “Bunny” pictured above inside the museum at Ravenglass. It was built using parts from an ex War department crewe tractor in 1925. It was rebuilt into its current form in 1928. The body is based on the North Eastern Railways “EF1 & EB1” Electrics. For a time “Bunny was stripped of all mechanical parts and used as a permanent way van. Thankfully it has since been restored to its 1928 condition.
Another resident of the museum is “Quarryman” a Muir-Hill tractor built in 1926 using the engine from a Fordson tractor. The engine was used to haul the stone trains from Beckfoot quarry to the crushing plant at Murthwaite. Following the close of the quarries the engine was redeployed and used on passenger and permanent way trains. The design proved so successful that the railway purchased a further two. One of these was rebuilt with a mock steam outline body and nicknamed “The Pretender”. It lost the steam outline body during a rebuild in 1984 and is now named “Perkins”. It serves as the lines main P-way locomotive and has recently (2020) had another new body fitted.
The third, NG.41 became a source of spare parts for the others and was finally cut up in the early 1970s. The wheels from it were used to re-gauge “Bonnie Dundee”.
Work on “Shelagh of Eskdale” began in 1955 using parts from ICL No.2, a similar engine in appearance to “Bunny”. No.2 used parts from Heywood steam engine “Ella”. These being the crank webs and centre sliding axles. Work was paused and it wasn’t til 1967 that the chassis, which had been built locally by Heathcotes LTD of Cleator Moor was sent o Seven Lamb in Stratford. The completed engine was delivered in 1969. The engine was loaned to the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch railway between 1981-83. And, it worked the line at the Liverpool garden festival a year later. It also hauled the royal train during the opening day there. During 2019 the engine was given a major overhaul and is now once again on loan to the RH&DR.
In 1978 the railway started construction of a brand new diesel. “Lady Wakefield” as it was to be known was commissioned during the summer of 1980. The design is based on American hooded diesels. During the winter of 1980 the engine was trailed on the RH&DR and became the basis for their own diesels. a 12. 1/4 version named “Lady of the lakes” was also constructed at Ravenglass for Ruislip Lido Railway. In recent years a taller bonnet has been fitted to the loco to accommodate a new power unit. Its current livery is inspired by British Railways green. It has also carried a Direct Rail services inspired livery.
“Douglas Ferreira” is the lines newest diesel locomotive. It was constructed in 2005 by TMA engineering. The bodywork is inspired by the class 66 diesel locomotives. The engine is named after the railways former general manager who held the post between 1961 & 1994. The engine is owned by the preservation society and is on long term loan to the railway Like River Mite & Whillan Beck.
The railway also has a small fleet of smaller diesel locomotives which are used on shunting duties around Ravenglass and the occasional P-way train. Pictured above is Lister “Cyril” built in 1932 and originally named “Shabtrak”. It was built to 2ft gauge and worked at Peat bog near Manchester. It came to the Ratty in 1985.
The railway also has “Greenbat” a battery electric mine loco. It was built in 1957 for Storrs Bridge Fireclay mine. It arrived at Ravenglass in 1982 were work to regauge it from the usual gauge of 16inch was carried out. It is currently undergoing overhaul at Ravenglass.
Another Lister on site is “Les” the only 15inch gauge built by Lister. It was built in 1960 for a motor racing enthusiast from West Sussex. It came to the Ratty via the Bredgar & Wormshill railway in Kent.
For a time the railway was also home "Royal Anchor". It was built in 1956 for a hotel of the same name in Hampshire. It came to the Ratty in 1961 via the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway. "Royal Anchor" was never capable of hauling the larger trains the railway needed. It was sold in 1978 to Steamtown Carnforth. When Steamtown closed in 2000 it was sold to American film director Francis Ford Coppola. For a time it was used at his Vinyard in California but is now reported to be stored on his land.
For a time the railway also had railcar named “Silver Jubilee”. It entered service in may 1977 and intialy comprised of 2 coaches with more being added later. It was built to launch the railways "Radio train control system"in 1977. It was mainly used on shuttle services and the first and last trains of the day. The Railcar also saw use at the Liverpool International garden festival, where it was painted in British railways "Intercity " livery, which replaced its all over silver livery. It was last used at Cleehtorpes in 2003 and has since been conerted into hauled coaching stock.
In 1965 the railway aquired the former Jaywick railway coaches. These 3 enclosed saloons had been built in 1935 to 18" gauge for the Jaywick railway near Clacton. They came to Ravenglass via the "New Brighton Promenade Railway". These enclosed carriages highlighted the need for similiar vehciles as the railways open coaches wern't always suited for the Cumbrian weather!
Two new fully enclosed saloons entered service in 1967, which were built by Myers & Bowman. This design of coach is still used on the railway to this day with many of these coaches having been built on site at Ravenglass. The above shot shows a train made up of fully closed saloons. But, the railway also has a number of semi opens and fully open coaches which often make up the trains. The coach at the front of the train is one of the "Maxi" coaches built for the Gateshead International Garden Festival. These coaches were based on the coaches used on the Campbeltown and Machrihanish light railway. 3 coaches remains with 2 in services and one as a grounded body used as a shop.
In recent years the railway has launched a program to replace these older carriages with newer and slightly larger examples. These are being built by the Ffestioniog railway at there Boston Lodge works. The first to enter service was a brand new 1sy class obsevation coach named "Joan". The above image shows off the size difference between the old stock.
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