Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway video

[Phil Raynes]

The Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway (a 2'6" line) now exists only as a paved fotpath, which I have walked on.  In a beautiful area of England, it closed in 1934, but carried standard gauge cars on special wagons.  The following video shows them in action and how they were loaded (pushed by the crew!) .  The locos were 2-6-4T's (2 of them), with headlights (never used!)  , which made them look "colonial", as the British referred to them!  I hope you enjoy the video, made in the 1930's!

Phil

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dWZbZGGnE6E

[Phil Raynes]

Ooops - I apologize - I should have put this in the "Narrow Gauge" section, since it is 2'6" rather than 2'!
Sorry!
Phil

[Keith Taylor]

What a scenic line!
Who built the locomotives?
The track looks to be of very substantially built.
Keith

[Glenn Christensen]

Hi Keith,

I have to agree with you,  the L&MV locos are simply beautiful! 

They were built by Kitson & Co. to a design by ER Calthrop.  Calthrop was the British engineer who built the Barsi Light Railway in India.  The L&MV locos were based upon the design for the Barsi lines's 0-8-4T locos.  The Barsi also rostered a number of very similar 4-8-4Ts.  One of these locos survives on display in Secunderabad. 

Its an interesting mental exercise to consider how locos with these various designs would have fared on the Maine Two-Footers.


Best Regards,
Glenn

[Mike Fox]

Very interesting. Especially the way they handle the broad gauge car!!! Perfect.