Where is the Wells Harbour line’s first locomotive now?

REGARDING the News item is issue 281 concerning the possible closure of the Wells Harbour Railway, it would be sad indeed if this little line was to close.

While the railway is diesel-hauled today, when on holiday in April 1998 I came upon the railway for the first time, and on that day it was steamhauled.

Here is a picture of the pretty little engine which bore the name Edmund Hannay and which was hauling the train that day.

I know nothing about the engine, and have often wondered who built it and where it is today, 23 years later.

John T Rhead, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

➜ Edmund Hannay is a coal-fired 0-4-2T built in 1972 by Norfolk engineer David King, with the intention of it being taken to steam fairs. It was the original engine on the Wells Harbour Railway when it opened in July 1976.

It was sold in 2011 and was then used on the miniature railway at Knebworth House and then the Vanstone Woodland Railway. It is now at the Hastings Miniature Railway. Earlier this year, it underwent extensive maintenance in the workshops at the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway during a visit there – Editor

Celebrating its half centenary next year, here is 0-4-2T Edmund Hanney in action on the Wells Harbour Railway in 1998. JOHN T RHEAD