R aveng lass & E sk dale R a ilway
NORTHERN RO CK
A brand new locomotive was needed
Even as the River Mite entered service in 1967, the increasing traffic on the railway meant
that there would be no spare engine for the summer season. Proposals for a new
locomotive was made, based on the tried and tested boiler design of the River Esk, but
with changes to styling unlike the locomotives built for Ireland, India and the Andes.
Thus a half-size, narrow gauge locomotive made to match the covered coaches meant all
the parts were more substantial than the third-size, main line designs
which preceeded them.
hern Rock on the
Present day Nort
marshes
Northern Ro
ck
during buildin
g, 1976
emony
oning cer
CommissiRavenglass, 1976
at
Trials of Northern Chief
Length: 24ft
Completed: 1976
Wheel arrangement: 2-6-2
Livery: Muscat green
Before the design was committed to
construction a visit was made in November
1971 by Northern Chief from the Romney, Hythe &
Dymchurch Railway to examine performance. Although
the new Ravenglass locomotive was not fitted with a superheated
boiler, like Northern Chief, it was completed with six driving
wheels, leaf springs and a pilot valve regulator.
Built at Ravenglass
The boiler was the last ever made by the Hunslet Engine Company
in Leeds, but virtually every other component came to Ravenglass
as a piece of flat steel plate, or a rough raw casting, to be
machined to size and fitted in the railway’s own workshops.
The work took Chief Engineer Ian Smith and his assistants,
David Clay and Ian Page, three years from 1973 and when they
lit the very first fire in her boiler, she raised steam and was taken
up the line without further adjustments.
What’s in a name?
The locomotive was initially going to be called after Sir Arthur
Heywood who had developed 15" (381mm) as the Minimum
Gauge Railway. However, when outside funding was needed to
complete the project (with support from the English Tourist Board
and the then Mutual Building Society) the Northern Rock was
deemed appropriate as the railway had been built and had survived
for so many years by carrying stone.
From Cumbria
to the Far East
One of Northern Rock’s many admirers
was Mr Nagae from Japan. His project was to lay a
15" gauge railway around Niji-no-Sato country park at
Shu-jen-ji 70 miles south west of Tokyo, and the rolling
stock was to be made in Britain. Work began in the new
workshops at Ravenglass on two steam locomotives like
Northern Rock. The first, a look-alike machine called
Northern Rock 11, was delivered in 1990 followed in 1992
by Cumbria, which was mechanically identical but with
different bodywork and dark green livery. The two sister
locomotives continue to run every day of the year on
this delightful line in the foothills of Mount Fuji.
Above improvement
Northern Rock has now given yet another generation
of visitors continued and reliable service in the ever
changing conditions which affect the Ravenglass &
Eskdale Railway. Because the railway operates within
many of the regulations applicable to main line railways,
air brakes have been fitted, otherwise minimal alterations
are a tribute to her designer and builders.
R aveng lass & E sk dale R a ilway
R IVER ES K
Scale models
River Esk was designed by engineer Henry
Greenly who had worked with BassettLength: 24ft
Lowkes on model train designs of many
Completed: 1923
different scales to run in playrooms,
gardens, country estates, fairgrounds and
Wheel arrangement: 2-8-2
exhibitions. In 1915 the Eskdale Line had
Livery: British Railways
reopened as ‘The Smallest Public Railway in
black
the World’ using their quarter scale
locomotives for passengers and Heywood’s for
goods. If loads were heavy however the little
engines often needed the passengers to get out and help
to push them up hills! The goods engine would also run out of steam
if required to run fast on busy days.
Built at Colchester
River Esk was specified to be the equal of two of the smaller
locomotives, the boiler being bigger than many contemporary
narrow gauge designs, as it had to pull 25 tons of stone from the
quarry and return with 160 passengers. She was was built at Davey,
Paxman & Co Ltd the very versatile engineers who built everything
from traction engines to refrigeration units for cargo ships. Based
on this design Davey, Paxman & Co Ltd made further one third
scale locomotives used on the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway
and went on to develop diesel engines like the ‘Valenta’ used to
power British Rail’s High Speed Train Fleet.
Krauss of Munich built a fleet of machines similar to River Esk for
exhibitions and pleasure parks and they are still found around the
world today from Germany and Austria to Spain and India.
Esk at
Present day River
Dalegarth mid 70s’
At Fisherg
round
early 1960’s
Problems of a pioneer
River Esk at
When first delivered on 18th December 1923 River Esk had
pioneering poppet valve cylinders and Davey, Paxman & Co Ltd’s
patent valve gear. Unfortunately they gave problems until they were
replaced five years later by Walschaerts valve gear used on most
contemporary main line locomotives. However she was still a
testbed for radical new ideas as the Yorkshire Engine Company then
fitted a steam powered tender: ‘The Poultney system’. This increased
her haulage ability from 25 to 50 tons of granite but when petrol
powered locomotives were introduced she was taken out of
service and stored.
Lakeland’s special attraction
Although River Esk only hauled stone for a few years she was one
of the things which attracted tourists to Eskdale as virtually every
other narrow gauge line in Britain had already closed
to passengers. She was out of action from 1939 for
boiler repairs, which were extended due to shortages
until 1952, but has operated every season since
running between 4,000 to 8,000 miles a year.
the builders
in
Colchester
1923
Tried and tested
In 1985 she won a award for combustion experiments using
the ‘Gas Producer Combustion System’ which had been fitted
to her new boiler for the day when supplies of good quality
smokeless fuel dry up. She also visited the Romney Hythe &
Dymchurch Railway to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her
fellow locomotives, pulling the Paxman Jubilee Train, filled
with workers past and present from the Colchester factory
where she was built. In recent years River Esk
hauled the Royal Train when HRH Princess
Alexandra travelled on the Ravenglass &
Eskdale Railway in 2009.
ltney tender
River Esk Pou
, late 1920’s
at Ravenglass
R aveng lass & E sk dale R a ilway
RIVER IRT
Circa 1960 at
Dalegarth
River Irt at
Dalegarth
between
–
the wars
t da
Presen
y River
Irt
A new name for a
rejuvenated engine
In 1927 a new locomotive-type boiler and
separate tender for coke and water radically
changed the appearance and capacity of Muriel.
Her new appearance was rather squat, due to
the fitting of a model engine cab to the
already wide chassis, causing Chief Engineer
Ted Wright to exclaim “Did I order that?”
after only sending a side elevation drawing
Length: 24ft
for the tender tank to be made.
Renamed River Irt she was an instant
Completed: 1893
The Minimum
success as she pulled over 260 people in
Wheel arrangement: 0-8-2
one special train (although the heather
Gauge Railway
Livery: Mid green
picking days were over the driver still
Although Arthur Heywood was born into a
needed a stout mackintosh!) River Irt ran
wealthy banking family his interests were very
reliably up to the outbreak of the Second
practical. At his country house at Duffield Bank he
World War then was steamed up again when
decided to build the smallest practical railway that could
hostilities ceased.
carry passengers, or replace the horse, in factories, quarries and the army.
“Man being an article of approximately standard size, it is clear there must be a
Another change for the better
minimum gauge which will be stable enough...15" gauge seems the smallest that
By the 1960’s River Irt was recognised not as an
will thoroughly insure safety in this respect.”
oddity but as an important part of Britain’s railway
heritage. After suggestions from railway volunteers,
River Irt changed her appearance again in 1972 with
Powerful and fast
a taller chimney, dome and a cab to match a new
Heywood built six locomotives in workshops behind the house (where there
bogie tender.These improved the steaming of the
were even tunnels, a viaduct and a foundry to cast metal!) The new engine was
boiler, the protection of the driver and matched
designed to show “... how powerful and fast travelling an engine could be on the
the height of the covered coaches then coming
15" gauge.” The 0-8-0 tank locomotive had special wheelsets that swivelled to go
into service.
round a 25' radius bend but no cab as “... a stout mackintosh is cheaper and far
better for the driver.” It was called Muriel after his eldest daughter.
Flower Power
Muriel runs the trains
When the Minimum Gauge Railway at Duffield Bank was demonstrated to the
Army Engineers, the Royal Agricultural Society and many other important visitors,
Heywood’s nine children ran the line: the boys drove the engines and the girls
(organised by their big sister) clipped tickets and worked the signal boxes.
Requisitioned to Ravenglass
After Sir Arthur Heywood’s death in May 1916 his railway was sold and the
locomotives were requisitioned. The following summer Muriel was delivered
to Ravenglass when the Eskdale Line was finally re-gauged to Boot to serve
the iron mines during the First World War. Although the Heywood
locomotives Katie, Ella and Muriel could only plod along at slow speeds they
could pull great loads If however their simple ‘steam launch’ boilers went off
the boil the passengers were encouraged to pick heather! After the granite
quarry reopened at Beckfoot, Muriel’s boiler was sent to power the rock
drills while her chassis was extended into an 0-8-2.
As the oldest locomotive on the line River Irt
hauled special trains to celebrate 100 Years of
Goods Trains and 125 Years of Passenger Operations
on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway. She then
went to the National Railway Museum as the
centrepiece of the 1981 Centenary of Minimum
Gauge Railways where she was viewed by
HRH Prince of Wales and HRH Princess of Wales.
This exhibition inspired the use of small railways
for public transport at the garden festivals of the
1980’s and she went to Liverpool in 1984 and
Gateshead in 1990.
R aveng lass & E sk dale R a ilway
R IVER MITE
The first River Mite
There had been an earlier locomotive on the
Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway called River Mite.
The big boiler on top of the chassis of two
of the scale model locomotives looked so
ungainly that the locals commented “It
might go but then it might not!”Although
tested in 1928 “... at 38mph without any
tendency to roll” she was not a long-term
success and ten years later she was out of
use and eventually scrapped.
River Mite
present day
Length: 24ft
Completed: 1966
Wheel arrangement: 2-8-2
Livery: Furness Railway
dark red
Hitching a
ride from Yor
on a Provide
nce Tractio k to Ravenglass
n engine –
1966
A special project
In 1962, shortly after the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway had been
secured, the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society took on
the special project to deliver another steam locomotive.This was to
provide more steam power at busy times, reduce the reliance on the
two older locomotives and allow more time for heavy overhauls during
the winter months.
Poultney to P1 Class
The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society acquired the
redundant chassis from the Poultney steam tender that had been built for
River Esk in 1928. As it had been run for less than 10,000 miles and stored
for thirty years it was sent to York where a model engineering company
fitted a new boiler, cylinders and tender. Harry Clarkson styled the
exterior on one of Sir Nigel Gresley’s London North Eastern Railway
P1 2-8-2 heavy freight locomotives but underneath the cladding it was
another River Esk with detailed improvements.
Fundraising
The work continued as fast as funds could be raised. Never before had
anything like this been done in Britain.The project was supported by
raffles, whist drives, generous gifts and substantial interest-free loans
which eventually raised over £8,000, in the era when most people
earned less than a thousand pounds a year.
A providential journey
To bring the locomotive to Ravenglass a traction engine called
Providence hauled her through the winter snows over Stainmoor. Before
these roads had been improved it was a legendary three day journey
through the Pennines and the Lake District that attracted a great deal
of publicity for the railway.
It might go…
At the works in York there had been no room to steam the locomotive
so there were teething troubles for Chief Engineer Tom Jones to
overcome at Ravenglass before her commissioning ceremony in May
1967. River Mite then hauled her first train with 13 coaches packed with
supporters as if she had always been runing here.
The first River Mite
circa 1930s’
Stopping the trains
During the 1970’s, River Mite was used to perfect the
development of small, steam, air compressors to power
the fail-safe airbrake equipment being fitted to all the
trains. It took three units to achieve complete reliability.
Travels afar
Over the years River Mite has made many visits to
other 15" gauge railways like the Romney, Hythe &
Dymchurch and Bure Valley. The furthest afield was the
visit in 1998 with Northern Rock to the
Dresden Park Railway in Germany to celebrate
the Anniversary of Reunification. This line, like
many Pioneer Railways in the former Soviet bloc,
is operated by local children supervised by
professional railwaymen.
Fundraising continues
The locomotive is supported by her own special
Preservation Society River Mite Maintenance Fund which
has in recent years paid over £100,000 for a brand
new boiler from Israel Newtons and a complete strip
down and bottom-end overhaul at TMA Engineering
in Birmingham.
All contributions are gratefully received.