Decauville pair for FR event
The oldest and the youngest working Decauville locomotives will be heading for the Ffestiniog Railway’s Friends event in May.
Both ‘Chuquitanta’, (36/1885) and ‘Lily’ (648/ 1912) are owned by the Richmond Light Railway in Kent. Chuquitanta, a Couillet-built engine is the oldest surviving operational Decauville in the world, supplied to the Rodriguez sugar cane plantation in Peru and acquired for restoration by the Richmond line in 2004.
Lily, a Type 3 Decauville and the youngest of its type currently in operation, was delivered new to the Thessaly Railway in Volos, Greece and acquired by the Richmond Light Railway in 2023.
The Friends weekend on 4th-5th May centres around the Ffestiniog Railway Society’s AGM and consists of a variety of special workings, workshop tours and displays arranged for Society members.
On the Richmond line recent work has included the construction of a new signal box and overhaul of a 10-lever frame which has been installed in the box. It will control all of the points in the Richmond station area – two are mechanical and the balance electric with new point motors designed for the line.
Trackwork underway includes the relaying of the engine shed yard, replacing the life-expired timber sleepers with a combination of steel and plastic sleepers and adding a new ashpit on the main entry line to the shed. Additionally the New Barn branch line is to be lifted and relaid with all-new steel sleepers.
The star of the RLR’s annual charity Steam Fair on 10th August will be Bagnall 0-4-0ST ‘Pixie’. Restoration of the loco has recently been completed and it has been undergoing running-in trials on the Ffestiniog Railway – watch for more on this loco in a coming issue of NGW.
Tickets for the Steam Fair go on sale on 1st March from https://www.ticketsource. co.uk/rlr or via the line’s Facebook page.