Locomotives

Admiring looks as First World War veteran No 778 runs round at Page’s Park. See below for its next running dates.

The Leighton Buzzard Railway’s locomotive fleet numbers more than 50 in total, one of the largest narrow-gauge collections in the United Kingdom. You can find out about any new developments in the Latest News section.

Engines that you are likely to see on Leighton Buzzard Railway passenger trains:

P C ALLEN
Type: 0-4-0WT (well tank)
Date: 1912
Builder: Orenstein & Koppel, Berlin, Germany (Works No. 5834)
A typical O&K standard design, “P C Allen” was built for the internal railway system at the chemical works of Solvay & Cie, Torrelavega, Spain, and imported to England in 1963. A long-term regular on the passenger service.

DOLL
Type: 0-6-0T (side tank)
Date: 1919
Builder: Andrew Barclay, Kilmarnock, Scotland (Works no 1641)
“Doll” was one of three identical locomotives built for the Sydenham ironstone quarries, near Banbury, Oxfordshire. When the quarries closed in 1925, they were sent to Bilston steelworks, near Wolverhampton, where “Doll” worked until it was withdrawn in 1959. After brief spells in preservation near Kenilworth, Warwickshire, and at Bressingham, Norfolk, it arrived at Leighton Buzzard in 1969, and has had several periods of active service. Currently a mainstay of the passenger service.

778
Type: 4-6-0T (side tank)
Date: 1917
Builder: Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, USA (Works No. 44656)
One of 495 locomotives built by Baldwin, for the War Department Light Railways. They operated on the thousands of miles of narrow-gauge tracks that supplied the front line trenches in the First World War. It then worked in India until the 1980s, finishing at the Upper India Sugar Mills in Uttar Pradesh. The first of its type to steam in Britain since the 1940s, it entered service in 2007, following a major overhaul. Click here for more details. It is due to operate next on 13th and 27th July.

BEAUDESERT
Type: 4-wheel diesel-hydraulic
Date: 1999
Builder: Alan Keef, Ross-on-Wye, England (Works No 59R)
Built to LBR specifications for passenger train and standby duties, “Beaudesert” used many parts from an earlier 900mm gauge Simplex locomotive, supplied to the National Coal Board in 1979, and later used as a shunter on the Channel Tunnel construction project. It is powered by a 112hp Dorman diesel engine.

Other stars from our locomotive collection:

CHALONER
Type: 0-4-0VBT (vertical-boiler tank)
Date: 1877
Builder: DeWinton, Caernarfon, Wales
One of the oldest working narrow-gauge engines in the country--and the first steam engine on the Leighton Buzzard Railway, in 1968--”Chaloner” is a fine example of DeWinton’s distinctive vertical-boiler design, as used for many years in the North Wales slate quarries. Supplied new to the Pen-y-Bryn quarry, Nantlle, later moving to Pen-yr-Orsedd nearby. It is due to operate next on 20th July.

PIXIE
Type: 0-4-0ST (saddle tank)
Date: 1922
Builder: Kerr Stuart, Stoke-on-Trent, England (Works No. 4260)
A Kerr Stuart “Wren” class, supplied originally to contractors for use on road-building projects, “Pixie” was bought by Devon County Council in 1929, and sent to work at Wilminstone stone quarry, near Tavistock. In 1957, it became one of the first British narrow-gauge industrial locomotives to be saved for preservation. Arrived at the Leighton Buzzard Railway in 1968, and, with “Chaloner”, was the mainstay of the passenger service for many years. Its privately owned twin, “Peter Pan”, is also based at Leighton Buzzard. “Pixie” is currently on hire to the Devon Railway Centre.

RISHRA
Type: 0-4-0T (side tank)
Date: 1921
Builder: Baguley Cars, Burton-on-Trent, England (Works No. 2007)
This tiny machine is the only working survivor of the small number of steam engines built by Baguley, who were much better known for their diesel locomotives and railcars. Supplied to Kolkata (Calcutta) Corporation, India, it shunted coal wagons at a water pumping station. See it in action at Wicksteed Park, Kettering, on 12th-13th July.

LR3098
Type: 4-wheel petrol mechanical
Date: 1918
Builder: Motor Rail, Bedford, England (Works No. 1377)
A rare working survivor of the “protected” (lightly armoured) 40hp petrol locomotives built for the War Department Light Railways, for supplying the First World War battlefields in France. After the war, several of this type were used to haul sand trains at Leighton Buzzard, but all were scrapped by the end of the 1950s. LR3098 worked at Knostrop sewage works, Leeds, and is on long-term loan from the National Railway Museum, York. It was restored to working order for the railway’s 80th anniversary in 1999, and was featured in “The One Show” on BBC1 in June. LR2182, a more heavily armoured version of the same type, awaits restoration.

FESTOON
Type: 4-wheel petrol mechanical
Date: 1929
Builder: Motor Rail, Bedford, England (Works No 4570)
The oldest locomotive that is original to the railway, “Festoon” was built in 1929 to a 20hp design developed for the battlefield supply lines of the First World War, and is probably a rebuild of a wartime machine. Initially used on contracting work, it was sold to the George Garside quarry company in 1931, and hauled sand trains at Leighton Buzzard. It survived the arrival of newer diesels, by being converted to a self-propelled fitters’ workbench.

43
Type: 4-wheel diesel-mechanical
Date: 1954
Builder: Motor Rail, Bedford, England (Works No 10409)
No 43 was built new for the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway in 1954, and helped replace the World War 1 petrol locomotives on sand trains. It has spent its entire career, in industrial and preservation service, on this railway, and has probably never left Bedfordshire.

740
Type: 0-6-0T (side tank)
Date: 1907
Builder: Orenstein & Koppel, Berlin, Germany (Works No 2343)
No 740 is the biggest locomotive ever to have run on the Leighton Buzzard Railway, weighing in at 18 tonnes. It was built for the Matheran Light Railway, which serves the hill station of Matheran, in Maharastra, India. It is now out of service, prior to its return to Railworld, Peterborough, later in the year, at the end of its loan agreement.