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Baguley 774 is one of the earliest surviving narrow-gauge internal combustion locomotives. It was built in 1919 for the Timber Supply Department of the Board of Trade. After a varied career, it was preserved at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn.
In early 1919, Baguley Cars Ltd began work on a class of six petrol-mechanical locomotives. These were an enlarged version of the 10hp McEwan Pratt locomotives supplied for use in the First World War. The larger design had a 20 hp engine and a larger frame and body. [1] The first locomotive, works number 774, was completed in March 1919 and shipped to Machynlleth railway station. [2]
The locomotive was used on the Timber Supply Department tramway at Pennal. Between 1918 and 1920 part of the 2 ft (610 mm) gauge tramway connecting to the Cwm Ebol quarry was extended to serve the timber felling operations at Cwm Dwr, two miles north of the Pennal. [1] 774 worked on this line during 1919 and early 1920. [3]
In 1923, the locomotive was purchased by Baguley who refurbished it and displayed it on their stand at the Commercial Motor Show in London and between 1924 and 1925 at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park. [2] In December 1926, light railway dealer J.C. Oliver & Co. of Leeds sold two Baguley locomotives to Oakeley slate quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog; these were works numbers 708 and 779 - the latter being another example of the 20hp class which had been acquired from the Kerry Tramway. Pleased with the performance of these locomotives, Oakeley approached Oliver for a third similar locomotive. In January 1927, Oliver bought 774 from Baguley and immediately sold it to Oakeley. [4]
In 1937, a fire at the locomotive shed at Oakeley destroyed 779 and damaged 774. The following year, 774 was walled up in the disused Upper Mill. [4]
In 1965, railway enthusiast Rodney Weaver purchased the locomotive from the quarry company and 774 was moved down to a lower mill for storage. In June 1968, it was moved to the Wychwood Railway, a private narrow gauge line near Leamington Spa, although it did not run there. It was purchased in 1970 by Rich Morris who moved it to his house in Bampton, Oxfordshire [5]
In 1977, Morris opened a railway museum in Oakeley quarry, called Gloddfa Ganol and 774 was moved there as an exhibit. In 1997, the museum closed and 774 was put up for auction. It was purchased by the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum, who moved it to the gunpowder shed at Tywyn Wharf railway station. [4]
In July 2003, the locomotive was moved to the Amerton Railway for cosmetic restoration. [6] This work was completed at the Statfold Barn Railway after 774 moved there in November 2008. It returned to Wales in November 2016, and was moved into the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum for public display. [4]
774 has a 130 imperial gallons (590 L) water tank that looks like a steam locomotive boiler, but holds cooling water for the cylinders. A 20 imperial gallons (91 L) petrol tank sits directly above the 4 cylinder 4,120 cubic centimetres (251 cu in) engine. Coil springs on the leading axle and leaf springs on the trailing axle provide suspension. The side-valve cylinders each have a 5 inches (130 mm) stroke and 4 inches (100 mm) bore, fed by a single Zenith carburetor, with a Simms high tension magneto ignition. The engine drives through a pair of cone clutches giving forward and reverse gears with high and low ratios. A bevel gear drives the camshaft and connecting rods. [7]
The following dimensions are given for the locomotive in its preserved state: [7]
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The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum is a purpose-built museum dedicated to narrow-gauge railways situated at the Tywyn Wharf station of the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, Gwynedd, Wales.
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Pennal is a village and community on the A493 road in southern Gwynedd, Wales, on the north bank of the River Dyfi, near Machynlleth.
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The Hendre-Ddu Tramway was a 1 ft 11 in narrow gauge industrial railway built in 1874 in Mid-Wales to connect the Hendre-Ddu slate quarry to Aberangell station on the Mawddwy Railway. It consisted of a main line 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) long and several branch lines and spurs serving other quarries, local farms and the timber industry.
The Kerry Tramway was a 2 ft narrow gauge railway built in 1887 to serve the timber workings and slab quarry to the south of the village of Kerry, near Newtown in mid Wales.
Pen-yr-Orsedd quarry was a slate quarry in the Nantlle Valley in North Wales. It was one of the last slate quarries operating in North Wales and the last operating in the Nantlle Valley area, finally closing in 1979.
The Mawddwy Railway was a rural line in the Dyfi Valley in mid-Wales that connected Dinas Mawddwy with a junction at Cemmaes Road railway station on the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway section of the Cambrian Railways.
Narrow-gauge railways were used extensively in the slate industry of Great Britain, especially in Wales. Many quarries had internal tramways, some using many dozens of miles of track. Others had private lines that stretched from the quarry to transhipment points on local railways, rivers, roads or coastal ports.
Oakeley quarry is a slate quarry in the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, north Wales. It was the largest underground slate mine in the world, and had 26 floors spanning a vertical height of nearly 1,500 feet (460 m).
The Cwt y Bugail quarry is a former slate quarry located east of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Wales. It was first worked as a trial pit around 1840. Continuous production began in 1863 and continued until closure in 1961. The quarry was connected to the Ffestiniog Railway at Duffws Station via the Rhiwbach Tramway.
Diana is a narrow gauge 0-4-0T steam locomotive. It was built by Kerr, Stuart and Company in 1909, and was delivered to the Kerry Tramway in Mid Wales, in 1917. After varied service in the Welsh slate industry, Diana was purchased by railway enthusiast Graham Mullis in 1964. After many years at a variety of location, Diana was purchased by a Talyllyn Railway volunteer in 2014, and restored to working order in 2015.
The Cwm Ebol quarry was a slate quarry about 1 mile (1.6 km) north west of the village of Pennal in Mid Wales. It operated from about 1860 to about 1906. It was the last Welsh slate quarry connected only to a trans-shipment point instead of directly to a railway.
Gloddfa Ganol was a museum dedicated to the Welsh slate industry and narrow-gauge railways, situated in the Oakeley slate quarry in Blaenau Ffestiniog. It opened in 1974 and closed in 1998 following an auction of its exhibits.