Orenstein & Koppel takeover at Old Kiln Light Railway’s double celebrations
A DOUBLE birthday bash was held over September 10/11 as the Old Kiln Light Railway celebrated not only its own 40th anniversary but also the 100th birthday of Orenstein & Koppel 0-6-0WT No. 9998 of 1922 Elouise.
The 2ft gauge OKLR was established in Surrey’s Rural Life Living Museum in 1982, having relocated from a previous site around a disused pumping station in Farnham, the land for which had been sold for redevelopment. Over the last four decades it has extended to a half-mile length, including a stretch that services the museum’s timber yard demonstration area.
Elouise was built in Berlin but delivered to Servicios Florestais, Portugal (the Portuguese Forestry Commission) via an O&K agent in Madrid. Little is known about its working life, but it ended up on display outside a café in Cascais before being brought to the UK in about 1969/70. After several changes of ownership, Elouise arrived on the OKLR in 1986.
The celebratory weekend also marked its first passenger services after completing overhaul.
For the first time ever on the OKLR, three engines were in steam, with Elouise being joined by two other O&K flavoured locomotives: 0-4-0T Emmet, on long-term loan from the Moors Valley Railway and built on the wheels and frames of a 1937 O&K diesel locomotive, and 0-6-0WT Sao Domingos from the Great Bush Railway at Tinkers Park, in East Sussex.
Planet No. FH.2528 and Baguley 0-6-0 steam outline No. 1769 Altonia were also in action at the end of each day, with trains running every 20 minutes from Mills Wood station. The rare opportunity of witnessing steam-hauled demonstration freight services on the line were also available.
In conjunction with the RLLM’s Steam At Work event, services continued to run late into the evening of Saturday September 10 for visitors.