Kerr Stuart double take at Mizens
A VISIT to Mizens Railway, home of the Woking Miniature Railway Society, on May 14 would have led you to be seeing double, writes Owen Hayward
For the society’s Visiting Engine Day, two 7 ¼in Kerr Stuart-based 0-4-2Ts were paired up and ran together on the dog bone circuit of track, with both locomotives based on real-life examples that once operated the Metropolitan Water Board’s 2ft-gauge Hampton coal wharf and pumping station railway.
The MWB was keen to design all aspects of its railway to ensure it met its specific needs. As a result, even the locomotives were designed in-house, with construction put to tender and awarded to Kerr Stuart in 1914. Three were built – Nos. 2366 Hampton, 2367 Kempton and 2368 Sudbury – and lasted in service until 1947. The 7 ¼in replicas are of Kempton (owned by WMRS member Alex Alder) and Hampton (owned by Alain Foote and visiting from Rainsbrook Valley Railway). The society also welcomed Josh Webb from the Hampton & Kempton Waterworks Railway (H&KWR). Josh is team leader of Webb Locos, which is spearheading a newbuild project of a locomotive to the original MWB design.
“I have always had a passion for steam railways and as a child hoped to one day get involved with one,” Josh said.
“After joining the MWB Railway Society in 2016 and then learning that 87 drawings for their engines still survived at the Statfold Barn Railway, I realised there was a possibility of recreating one.”
To date, the wheel centres, tyres and two axles of MWB No.4 have been manufactured, and the frame sides and stretchers cut ready for drilling.
Josh added: “Our ambition is to complete the project by 2047 – the 100th anniversary of the closure of the MWB railway and scrapping of the three original engines.
“Once complete, the new engine would be based at the H&KWR but be available for operation at any 2ftgauge line that wants to hire it.”
For more information and to support the new-build project, visit www.webblocos.co.uk
The H&KWR will be running a gala day on June 11, at which the 7¼- inch version of Kempton will be attending. For further information, visit hamptonkemptonrailway.org.uk