PAIR OF HEYWOOD KATIES SET FOR KIRKLEES ESTATE RAILWAY GALA

Former Eaton Hall Railway 0-4-0T Katie will be united with its 1996-built replica for the first time at the Kirklees Light Railway’s 14th annual steam and diesel gala in September.

Both the original 1896-built Heywood locomotive and its modern-day counterpart fit the September 14/15 event’s estate railways theme – the former having been built to serve the Duke of Westminster’s Eaton Hall estate – and are visiting from the Ravenglass & Eskdale and revived Eaton Hall railways respectively. It will be the first time the EHR’s Katie has visited another 15in gauge railway.

The Katies will be joined by the RER’s 0-8-2 River Irt – formerly Sir Arthur Heywood’s 0-8-0T Muriel, built for his Duffield Bank Railway in Derbyshire – Bassett-Lowke ‘Class 30’ 4-4-2 Count Louis (originally built for Count Louis Zborowski’s estate railway at Higham, Kent) and Rhyl Miniature Railway-based Cagney 4-4-0 No. 44.

The visitors will join the KLR’s resident fleet, including the Guest Engineering twin 2-4-2s Katie and Sian. Upholding the event’s theme, the KLR’s Katie nearly ended up operating on an estate railway when it was purchased from the Dudley Zoo Railway by Captain Vivian Hewitt, who intended to run it on a banana plantation in the Bahamas fuelled by coconut husks. However, it only ever made it as far as Anglesey before it was bought by the Fairbourne Railway following the captain’s death.

The gala will feature an intensive timetable with half-hourly departures, and will culminate in the traditional ‘Shelley or Bust’ final train on Sunday featuring as many locomotives as possible.