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 On Saturday 18 September 2010 a steam railways film evening at Christchurch, Abbeydale, Gloucester, yielded a first opportunity to transport Universal Works 2.0 and exhibit the refurbished layout in public. This was in static display mode without the road module but did have enough space for eight operable tank engines as well as some newly acquired static models from the Ron Brooks Collection.


On Saturday 18 September 2010 a steam railway film evening at Christchurch, Abbeydale, Gloucester, yielded a first opportunity to transport, exhibit in public and recover the refurbished Universal Works 2.0  layout.  This was in static display mode without the road module but did have enough space for eight operable tank engines as well as some newly acquired static models from the Ron Brooks Collection.

Although better lit before and after the screening of the Jim Clemens films of Wales, Scotland, Lancashire and Gloucestershire, the church house lights were not ideal for close-up photography and some of the locomotives featured in the overall shot above have been photographed again individually on Capital Works in better conditions.


Indeed ex North British 0-6-0T 9819 and Great Western 0-6-0PT 9753 have already been described in the article on Capital Works as has half-cab pannier antecedent 2743.


Indeed ex North British 0-6-0T 9819  and Great Western 0-6-0PT 9753 have already been described in the article on Capital Works as has half-cab pannier antecedent 2743.


1925 vintage 0-6-0T 581 meanwhile belonged to J72, a Class uniquely built in five batches over 54 years by the North Eastern, London & North Eastern and British Railways under four different Chief Mechanical Engineers. Designed by William Worsdell in 1898 - and based on the existing J71 Class - further batches were built for Sir Vincent Raven in 1914 and 1920, for Sir Nigel Gresley in 1925 and Arthur Peppercorn from 1949 to 1951. Of the final batch 69023 has been preserved in LNER green livery as "Joem". 0-6-0T 581 was built at Doncaster although Darlington Works and Armstong-Whitworth of Newcastle also undertook contruction.


1925 vintage 0-6-0T 581 meanwhile belonged to J72, a Class uniquely built in five batches over 54 years by the North Eastern, London & North Eastern and British Railways under four different Chief Mechanical Engineers.  Designed by William Worsdell in 1898 - and based on the existing J71 Class - further batches were built for Sir Vincent Raven in 1914 and 1920, for Sir Nigel Gresley in 1925 and Arthur Peppercorn from 1949 to 1951.  Of the final batch 69023 has been preserved in LNER green livery as "Joem".  0-6-0T 581 was built at Doncaster although Darlington Works and Armstong-Whitworth of Newcastle also undertook contruction.


The film evening at Christchurch - organised by Gloucester Film Makers in aid of church funds and a south India schools charity - also offered the chance to display some of the locomotives usually kept in reserve at exhibitions.


The film evening at Christchurch - organised by Gloucester Film Makers in aid of church funds and a south India schools charity - also offered the chance to display some of the locomotives usually kept in reserve at exhibitions.  The first two of these could trace their origins back to the latter half of the Nineteenth Century but survived until the end of BR steam and beyond in more modernised forms.

Purchased as a back-up chassis and BR era alternative to condensing A1X 0-6-0T 41 "Piccadilly" on Capital Works, 32640 began life as London Brighton and South Coast Railway number 40 "Brighton", emerging from Brighton Works in March 1878 and winning a gold medal at the same year's Paris exhibition.  The locomotive was then bought by the Isle of Wight Central Railway in 1902, being renumbered and renamed as 11 "Newport" and upgraded to A1X standard in July 1918.  After Grouping in 1923 the former "Brighton" became W11 "Newport" and returned to the mainland in 1947.  Under British Railways Southern Region it gained the number 32640 and was withdrawn in September 1963. However, it is now preserved on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway.

Although introduced to the London Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1872, the "Terriers" could trace their design roots back to three 0-6-0Ts built during William Stroudley's previous appointment as the Locomotive Superintendent of the Highland Railway from 1866 to 1869. With cab layout and many other features being perpetuated in Highland Railway design thereafter under David Jones ( 1869 - 1896 ), Peter Drummond (1896 -1911 ), F.G. Smith ( 1912 - 1915 ) and C. Cumming ( 1915 -1923 ), the last of these three locomotives were not retired by the LMS until 1932.

Back at Brighton meanwhile, 50 Terriers were outshopped between 1872 and 1880 and although some were withdrawn as early as 1900 others continued to work with smaller railway companies and no less than ten have been preserved.

LMS "Jinty" 0-6-0T 7319 - at the rear of the picture above - belonged to a Fowler designed 3F class introduced in 1924 with 4' 7" driving wheels, two 18" x 26" cylinders, 160 lb boiler pressure and a tractive effort of 20 834 lb. After being renumbered as 47319 the 49 tons 10 cwt locomotive survived into the early 1960s.

However, 7319 could trace its origins back to the very first design produced by Samuel Waite Johnson on his arrival at the Midland Railway in 1873.   25 of these engines were built initially by Neilson & Company in Glasgow in 1874-75 while another 15 were built by Vulcan Foundry in 1875-1876.  Many more followed from Derby between 1878 and 1893 with still further batches from outside builders until 1899, by which time the class totalled 280 engines.

Prior to 1907 their running numbers were somewhat scattered but in that year they were consolidated as 1620-1899.  A further 60 slightly enlarged locomotives were built by Vulcan Foundry from 1899 to 1902 and were subseqently numbered 1900-1959.  Many of these were fitted with condensing apparatus for working over the Widened Lines of the Metropolitan Railway and consequently spent much of their lives in the London area.


Condensing apparatus fitted 47202 at Manchester's Newton Heath depot on 20 February 1967.


Condensing apparatus fitted 47202 at Manchester's Newton Heath depot on 20 February 1967.




No more 0-6-0Ts were built for the Midland Railway but a slightly uprated version was to appear as an LMS standard type after the 1923 Grouping.  No fewer than 415 were built between 1924 and 1931 as well as a further seven engines for the Somerset and Dorset Railway.  These locomotives were later integrated into LMS stock and, like all the other post 1923 machines, became identified in the range 7260 - 7681.

During the 1930s numbers 1900-1959 were renumbered as 7200-7259.  All of the earliest Midland locomotives in this format carried S.W. Johnson's distinctive round topped boiler and firebox and handle-like Salter safety valve on the dome, but most of those which would survive later - and all of the 1900-1959 batch gradually acquired Belpaire fireboxes.  However, some of the earliest examples still retained their original half-cabs when so modified.

95 of the locomotves numbered between 1620 and 1899 as well as all the 7200-7259 batch were to survive into BR ownership and have their running numbers increased by 40000.  In the same way, 7260 - 7618 became British Railways London Midland locomotives 47260 - 47681.




As has already been discussed in Capital Works Guest Motive Power, the 1891 vintage Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway B7 Pug is an ideal engine for a small layout being little larger than a seven plank open coal wagon. My own version of the powered Dapol model carries the number 19 in the centre of a plate which reads "L&Y Ry Co Makers Horwich 1910" and so could be seen at work at any time during the reign of King George V, assuming that after 1923 it was either last on the LMS list to be renumbered or that it had been sold to industrial use. A spare engine in later LMS or BR markings would also be a welcome addition to the locomotive stud!




As has already been discussed in Capital Works Guest Motive Power, the 1891 vintage Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway B7 Pug is an ideal engine for a small layout being little larger than a seven plank open coal wagon.  My own version of the powered Dapol model carries the number 19 in the centre of a plate which reads "L&Y Ry Co Makers Horwich 1910" and so could be seen at work at any time during the reign of King George V, assuming that after 1923 it was either last on the LMS list to be renumbered or that it had been sold to industrial use.  A spare engine in later LMS or BR markings would also be a welcome addition to the locomotive stud!

In softer focus at the rear of the shot meanwhile is a Riddles Austerity 0-6-0ST bearing the number 157 of the Longmoor Military Railway and similarly purchased as a back up to "Harry" discussed in the Capital Works feature.

Railway activities at Longmoor dated from 1903 when a 1ft 6in gauge tramway was laid to assist in removing bodily about seventy corrugated iron huts from Longmoor Camp to Bordon. Relaid to standard gauge in 1905-1907 it became known as the Woolmer Instructional Military Railway, but reverted to Longmoor Military railway in 1935. The Liss extension was opened in 1933, and the branch from Whitehill via Hollywater to Longmoor was completed in 1942. Well over a thousand locomotives have had associations with the railway even though many went only for storage.

The southern terminus of the Longmoor Military railway was at Liss where, adjacent to the British railways station, was what the small sign proclaimed to be Liss L.M.R. This was only the passenger terminus on the line and consisted of a run-round loop, single platform and small shelter. Half a mile from Liss, at Liss Junction, a line diverged to the Liss exchange sidings. At their southern end these sidings converged on a single track which lead through a gate into the B.R. yard at Liss. A small signal box, or blockpost as the Army preferred to call it, controlled access to the sidings, but was normally shut by the early 1960s as the sidings were rarely used. The next station north was Liss Forest Road - one and a quarter miles from Liss - situated by a small road to Liss Forest village. As well as a level crossing there was a passing loop, two platforms, a signal box and a spur to a sand drag in each direction. The box here was also normally closed by the early 1960s and the loop set for a through run. However, the box and loop were always used when training was in progress.

There was one more station before Longmoor - Weaversdown Halt - which served the eastern side of Longmoor Camp, and was once a passing place. The loop was – again by the early 1960s - locked for a straight through run, however, and the signalling system had been dismantled. Between Weaversdown and Longmoor the line traversed a long left hand curve which changed its direction from north-east to west and crossed the east end of Longmoor Yard on a single span girder bridge and the B 2131 Liphook - Greatham road on the level.

Longmoor Downs station, as might be expected, was the largest on the Railway, and is separated from the rest of Longmoor Camp by the Liphook - Greatham road. The station consisted of a large island platform, situated between a number of tracks, with a brick signal box in the middle. The box had an 80 lever interlocking frame and controlled lines in five directions. To the east was the main line to Liss; to the south-east the line to Longmoor Yard; to the west was the siding into the Engineer Stores Depot attached to Longmoor Camp; to the north-west the main line to Bordon; and finally to the north-east was the Hollywater Branch. Longmoor Downs station had two tracks to the north and three to the south. These converged at the western end of the station into the main line to Bordon. Although this was double track as far as Whitehill, it was worked double line only when training is in progress. An indicator in Longmoor station showed whether it is being worked single or double line.

Between Longmoor and Whitehill were two intermediate stations, Woolmer and Two Range Halt. Woolmer station had two staggered platforms, and a box controlling the southern entrance to Woolmer Yard. The latter consisted of five sidings running parallel with the main line and converging on Two Range Halt Box. The box was all that marked the halt and takes its name from the nearby number two rifle range. It also controls access to Whitehill Yard. The latter was opened during the Second World War but was disused by the early 1960s, the tracks being covered with brambles and small bushes. Half a mile from Two Range Halt was Whitehill Station, where the Army had their own peculiar kind of signalling which made use of red and green flags.

Whitehill station had a small platform on the west side, and was the northern junction of the Hollywater Branch which made a triangular junction with the eastern track of the main line. To allow for single line working, therefore, crossovers were provided in the station layout. These crossovers are also necessary because the eastern track ended just north of its junction with the northern side of the triangle. Just north of Whitehill Station the line passed under the only overbridge on the railway and then commenced a stiff climb through wooded land towards the next station, Oakhanger. Half a mile from Oakhanger, however, a long siding left the main line towards the south and trailed back to a reversing junction at a lower level. From the reversing junction sidings branched out into one of the stores areas of Bordon Camp.

Oakhanger station also had a single platform on the west side of a loop. At the south end of the station there was a level crossing with the B 3002 Bordon - Lindford road and this, in common with all level crossings on the Railway, was ungated. From the loop a siding ran off into another part of Bordon Camp. The final half mile of the main line swung it round through 180 degrees to bring it to the end of the B.R. branch from Bentley, where there are passenger and freight interchange facilities.

As previously mentioned Whitehill was the northern junction of the Hollywater Branch. The two sides of the triangle converged after two hundred yards, and the branch then ran roughly due east towards Hopkin’s Bridge. On approaching Hopkin’s Bridge, three quarters of a mile from Whitehill, the branch swung sharply to the right round the edge of a clearing in otherwise dense woodland. A siding, however, continued straight ahead, and divided into two before ending abruptly on the edge of a deep pit, about 100 yards across. On the other side the two sidings resumed and eventually rejoined the branch. This pit had a rough track running into it on the far side from the branch and was used for practise in bridge construction.

From Hopkin’s Bridge the branch ran east for a further quarter of a mile to Hollywater station where there was a loop on the left hand side of the main running line and a platform constructed from old sleepers. The loop had large piles of ash dumped on it and by the early 1960s had been disused for some time, the points being locked for a through run. Beyond Hollywater the branch climbed steeply before Griggs Green, three miles from Whitehill. The spot was marked by a short disused loop on the right hand side, and at this point the Liphook - Greathan road became visible on the left hand side. The branch paralleled the road for one mile and then cut round the side of a small hillock to join the Liss line at the approach to Longmoor Downs station. In general the track on the branch was in poor condition - in marked contrast to the rest of the railway - as it was only used for training runs at odd intervals.

On weekdays in 1963 there were eleven passenger trains each way between Longmoor and Liss, and a freight service between Longmoor and Bordon which rans as required. The latter was mainly to bring in locomotive coal and supplies to the Engineer Stores Depot attached to Longmoor Camp.

Many passenger services were timed to connect with B.R. trains and were principally used by the many civilians employed at the camp who travelled by train to and from Liss. Originally the passenger trains ran through from Liss to Bordon, but when British railways withdrew the service from Bentley to Bordon in 1957, the W.D. withdrew theirs between Bordon and Longmoor.

By August 1963 the locomotive stock at Longmoor had been vastly reduced from some 21 steam, 7 diesel and 4 railcars to 7 steam, 4 diesel and 2 railcars. The standard loco livery was royal blue lined red, with red rods and yellow lettering. However, on the diesels the lining was omitted.  Austerity 157  was at that time stored in the Fitters School in immaculate condition as a ‘show’ loco with valve gear is disconnected and cab controls are labelled. It was transported to exhibitions by road but I have since found no record of it..




As mentioned at the top of this feature, the Christchurch presentation on 18 September also included some items from the Ron Brooks Collection including a Drewry Class 04 diesel shunter, another Austerity 0-6-0ST and this remarkable 0-4-2T with two cabs and built by Ron Brooks from a number of Rosebud/Airfix/Dapol Pug kits. Ron himself had simply described it as "Irish" and perhaps not totally accurate but later discussions with Malcolm Bell led me on an electronic trail to the Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway.





As mentioned at the top of this feature, the Christchurch presentation on 18 September also included some items from the Ron Brooks Collection including a Drewry Class 04 diesel shunter, another Austerity 0-6-0ST and this remarkable 0-4-2T with two cabs and built by Ron Brooks from a number of Rosebud/Airfix/Dapol Pug kits.  Ron himself had simply described it as "Irish" and perhaps not totally accurate but later discussions with Malcolm Bell led me on an electronic trail to the Dublin and Blessington Steam Tramway.

The first railway 5' 3" gauge line from Dublin to then Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) opened in 1834 and many more soon spread across Ireland to serve the main towns.  Dublin alone eventually had no fewer than five railway terminii as well as an extensive horse drawn tram network which reached south to the suburb of Terenure.

However, the 5' 3" gauge horse drawn trams still stopped some fifteen and a half miles from the town of Blessington which, despite being an important centre with monthly fairs, was isolated within a hinterland of remote and sparsely populated countryside.

As a result the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway ( DBST) was built from Terenure south to Blessington via Templeogue, Tallaght, Embankment, Brittas and The Lamb and opened on Wednesday 1 August 1888 with the 0835 mail train from Terenure arriving at Blessingham at 1020.

The DBST was extended by four and a half miles with the addition of the Blessington and Poulaphouca Steam Tramway which as worked by a passenger vehicle hauled by two horses until DBST motive power took over in 1896.  However, the Blessington and Poulaphouca Steam Tramway remained independent until its closure in 1927.  A further extension to Rathdrum on the Dublin and South Eastern Railway was also proposed in 1897 but the mountainous landscape of the Wicklow Gap finally deterred its promotors.

In 1898 the Dublin United Tramway Company line to Terenure was electrified and although differences in rail specifications with the DBST prevented through passenger workings a physical connection was made between the two systems and at night a small DUTC electric locomotive would haul coal and cattle wagons off the DBST to destinations around Dublin.

Plans to upgrade and electrify the DBST itself however fell through in 1911 and the subsequent financial impact of the First World War, Irish Civil War and competition from road haulage and motor buses sealed the line's fate, especially after the loss of tourist traffic to Poulaphouca in 1927.  The final DBST train ran on Saturday 31 December 1932.





In its earliest days however, the DBST carried passengers in double decked bogie tram cars marshalled either in pairs or with one double deck car and some goods wagons forming a train. Initial motive power came from a fleet of six 0-4-0 tram engines delivered in 1887 from Falcon Works, Loughborough - which had already supplied "Sir Haydn" to the Talyllyn Railway in 1878 and would later build the Class 47 diesel electric locomotives of British Railways.




In its earliest days however, the DBST carried passengers in double decked bogie tram cars marshalled either in pairs or with one double deck car and some goods wagons forming a train.  Initial motive power came from a fleet of six 0-4-0 tram engines delivered in 1887 from Falcon Works, Loughborough - which had already supplied "Sir Haydn" to the Talyllyn Railway in 1878 and would later build the Class 47 diesel electric locomotives of British Railways.  

However, these "kettles" proved underpowered, especially when tackling the DBST's steep Crooksling incline, and a 2-4-2T locomotive - DBST number 7 - was ordered from Thomas Green and Son of Leeds in 1892.  This, like tram engines 1-6, had a cab at each end but was really too heavy for the rails and was not greatly used.

Nevertheless, another smaller locomotive was ordered from Thomas Green and Son of Leeds in 1896.  This bore their works number 218 and was delivered as an 0-4-2T, again with a forward control cab as the DBST had no turntables.  This was to become Number 8 in the DBST fleet and was rebuilt as a 2-4-2T in 1903 to resemble Number 9 - another 2-4-2T built by Brush Engineering in Loughborough in 1899.  The final new DBST steam locomotive - introduced in 1906 - was another 2-4-2T built by Thomas Green and Son of Leeds.




Ron Brook's model would therefore seem to represent DBST locomotive 8 / Thomas Green and Son of Leeds works 218 in its as-delivered condition of 1896, thereby also representing all the steam locomotives built in Britain for export within the context of the Christchurch display.





Ron Brook's model would therefore seem to represent DBST locomotive 8 / Thomas Green and Son of Leeds works 218 in its as-delivered condition of 1896, thereby also representing all the steam locomotives built in Britain for export within the context of the Christchurch display.

Like the Lancashire and Yorkshire B7 Pug, DBST 8 had cylinders of 13" bore x 18" stroke although the coupled wheels were slightly larger at 3' 3" compared to the Pug's 3' 3/8". However, the Leeds built locomotive managed an even shorter coupled wheelbase than the Horwich product with 5' 6" beating  5'9"!  Other dimensions for Thomas Green and Son of Leeds works number 218 included trailing wheels of 1' 10", 350 gallons water capacity,1¾ tons coal capacity, and full weight of 27 tons.

Looking at pictures of DBST 8 in service, it also appears to have been fitted with a taller steam dome, small rear coal bunker and a chimney tall enough to clear the top of a double deck tram.

In 1903 DBST 8 was rebuilt as a 2-4-2T at a cost of £100, and was then similar to the next engine, Number 9, with a weight of 29 tons

Ron Brook's Pug conversion also pre-figured the railway modelling sub-genre of representing Irish motive power and rolling stock on 00 gauge track although purists might prefer the alternative approach of modelling in 3.5mm to the foot (1:87 ) and using 18.2mm EM gauge track to represent the Irish 5'3".

As well as being one of the more obscure engineering companies to operate in Leeds, the firm of Thomas Green and Son also has a fascinating history all of its own.

Thomas Green himself was born and raised in Newark, Nottinghamshire and his company - founded in 1835 - made small general engineering products but was noted for its wire work. The Smithfield Foundry in North Street, Leeds, was constructed from 1850 with a London office opening in 1863 and Green's "Surrey Works" opening in Blackfiars in 1881.

The first Green patent lawnmower appeared in 1855 and by 1885 Green's produced a Steam Tram locomotive to a Wilkinson Patent, a change to the law in 1879 having allowed the easier use of steam locomotives on tramways. Green saw ways to improve the Wilkinson patent and after making thirty nine tram engines under licence produced his own design. A total of one hundred and fifty seven were made with the last leaving Leeds in 1898.  Most tram systems in the UK used Green’s tram engines and many were exported. 

Green's first conventional locomotive - an 0-4-0 well tank - was exported to Australia - in 1888, followed by 39 more built to broad, standard gauge and narrow gauges up to 1920  From then on Green’s focused on petrol and diesel powered rollers and lawnmowers. 

Thomas Green and Son made machine tools and  munitions during both World Wars of the Twentieth Century and in the 1939-1945 conflict constructed components for Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers being assembled by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough in East Yorkshire.  As it turned out, the works manager during the Great War was George W. Blackburn whose son Robert founded the Blackburn Aeroplane Company and indeed some of Robert's early efforts were constructed at Smithfield Foundry.

In 1951 Blackburn - soon to design its Buccaneer naval jet bomber -  took over Greens, before they themselves became part of the Hawker Siddeley empire in 1960. Not being a core business to Hawker Siddeley,  Thomas Green and Son was sold to Atkinson’s of Clitheroe in 1975 and the Leeds premises closed in 1976.





Attractive and distinctive though it is, the model of DBST 8 would have no more than decorative value on a working layout, and while ready-to-run model manufacturers cover many of the smaller tank engines of the "Big Four" railways and their constituents none of them have made realistic attempts at the small shunting locomotives produced by private firms such as Thomas Green and Son or indeed Atkinson Walker.



Attractive and distinctive though it is, the model of DBST 8 would have no more than decorative value on a working layout, and while ready-to-run model manufacturers cover many of the smaller tank engines of the "Big Four" railways and their constituents none of them have made realistic attempts at the small shunting locomotives produced by private firms such as Thomas Green and Son or indeed Atkinson Walker.

Atkinson-Walker Wagons Ltd was an amalgamation of Atkinson Wagons Ltd (who had absorbed the Leyland Steam Wagon Company of Chorley and was based at Frenchwood Works, Preston) and Walker Bros (Wigan) Ltd. of Pagefield Ironworks, Wigan. 

Walker Bros. (Wigan) Ltd. was founded in the 1890s as Walker J. Scarisbrick and Brothers -the name being changed about 1880 - and produced some twenty five conventional steam shunting engines from 1872 to 1883 with diesel passenger railcars being manufactured for the 3' gauge West Clare Railway in Eire in the late 1930s.  By this time too, Walker Brothers were a general engineering firm, repairing locally based locomotives and also building heavy road cranes, some of which were owned by the LMS railway. 

Atkinson-Walker Wagons Ltd produced no more than twenty five geared steam locomotives, the majority of which worked on industrial railways in Britain and overseas, from 1927 until 1930 when a combination of the Great Depression and competition from Sentinels saw production cease.

 Geared steam locomotives combined two technologies first developed for road vehicles - the compact high pressure vertical boiler and gear and chain drives to the road wheels which offered a compact, low maintenance and highly efficient means of transmitting torque to the road wheels. 

 As such, geared steam locomotives really only blossomed for about 15 years from the end of the Great War, after which diesel locomotives became readily available.  However, the pioneers of the geared steam locomotive - The Sentinel Wagon Works of Shrewsbury - continued production until 1958 and outshopped by far the largest number of units.

 The geared steam locomotive was hailed as a major source of operational economies at a time when railway costs were rising and revenues looking increasingly precarious.  The introduction of the eight hour working day for the railway industry in February 1919 pushed up wage costs already affected by wartime inflation.  Geared locomotives offered to reduce costs by dispensing with a fireman and allowing single crewing.

 By greater thermal and mechanical efficiency they also held out the prospect of getting more work for a given cost out of locomotives engaged in shunting, an essential but unremunerative aspect of operation, particularly for the goods service which comprised the railway companies' principal source of revenue.

 Also, since the locomotives themselves could be adapted to become the traction units in passenger railcars - something tried by both Sentinel and Lincoln based Clayton - there was also the possibility of more economical operation of branch lines, the earning potential of which was under threat from urban tramways and  rural bus services.

 The Atkinson-Walker works numbers began at 101 and the four or six wheeled locomotives were all of standard gauge except the (probably) metre gauge 105-108, which were exported to Singapore, and numbers 111 and 114.  Sadly all the company's records and drawings were destroyed long ago by their successors, Atkinson Lorries (1933) Ltd which went on to become part of Seddon Atkinson.

 No records exist of number 101 and it is possible that it was either never built or that it was a prototype engine of which the design was later modified. It may have been scrapped or butchered to supply parts for the other engines, but this is speculation.

 The locomotives for which records exist fall into five main types. 

Type A had four 3' diameter wheels, outside bearings, and a two 7" x 10" cylinder vertical engine.

 Type B was the same but with three cylinders. Typical dimensions for an Atkinson-Walker Type B were 21' long, 8' wide and 11' 6" high, with a wheelbase of 5'6", boiler pressure 280 psi and working order weight 35 tons. Water tank capacity was 1,000 gallons, coal bunker capacity 6 cwt,  fire grate area of 7 square feet and a total heating surface of 125 square feet.

 Type C had four 2'3" wheels, inside bearings and a two 7" x 10" cylinder horizontal engine.  However, the reason why the bearings were inside the wheels for this design is not known.

 Type D had six 3' wheels, outside bearings and a two 7" x 10" cylinder horizontal engine.

 Type NG had our 2'4" wheels, outside bearings and a vertical cylinder engine and was supplied in various narrow gauges.

Number 102 was a Type A built in 1927 to standard gauge and went to Henry Latham Flour Mills in York.

 Number 103 was a Type A built in 1927 or 1928 to standard gauge and went to Hutchinson Hollingsworth & Co. Ltd although later this locomotive served as the Walker Brother's own shunter at Wigan and was named "Mary".  In 1947 it was rebuilt with a diesel engine.

 Number 104 was a Type B built in 1928, to standard gauge and was named "Lazarus" by its owners Richard Briggs & Sons Ltd. of Clitheroe.

 Numbers 105-108 were all NG locomotives built in 1928 and went to the Singapore Municipal Council where they became Nos. 1 to 4 respectively. They were rather different to all other Atkinson-Walker products in that they had semi-open bodywork and outside chain drives, presumably due to the narrow gauge.

 Number 109 was a Type A 109 built in 1928 to standard gauge and became Number 2 of Oxford & Shipton Cement Ltd. and survived until at least 1950 when it was photographed in the ownership of Frances T. Wright at Finedon, Northamptonshire, where it had arrived in 1937.

Number 110 was Atkinson-Walker's only Type D, also built in 1928 to standard gauge and also supplied to Oxford & Shipton Cement Ltd where it became their locomotive Number 1.  This machine later moved to Alpha Cement Ltd. of West Thurrock, Essex, in 1940 and was given the name "Goliath".

 Number 111 was a Type NG built in 1928 to 3' gauge for the Ivybridge China Clay Company's Redlake Tramway on Dartmoor  in South Devon.  Named "Lady Mallaby-Deeley" after the proprietor's wife, the two 7"x10" cylindered locomotive with 2' 4" diameter wheels hauled the trains that demolished the tramway in 1933 before being sold.

 Number 112 was a Type B built in 1928 to standard gauge for the Shap Granite Co. as their "Felspar 2".

 Number 113 was Atkinson-Walker's only Type C and was built in 1928 to standard gauge for Blaxter's Quarries Limited of Elsdon of Northumberland although by May 1947 it was working for the Tottenham and District Gas Company.

Number 114 was a Type NG built in 1928 to 3' gauge as locomotive number 8 of the Clogher Valley Railway in Ireland and was visually almost identical to Atkinson-Walker number 111, although with larger 2'6" wheels than the Redlake Tramway engine, a ten inch longer wheelbase ( 6'6" against 111's 5' 6" ) two hundred gallons extra water tank capacity ( 500 gallons against 111's 300 ) but only 10 cwt of coal capacity against the Devon based engine's 12 cwt.  Dimensionally, 111 and 114 were also very close and both weighed 12 tons with 60 square feet of heating surface, 280 psi boiler pressure and 5 700 lb tractive effort.

 Atkinson-Walker had offered to send 114 "on trial", an offer which was accepted by the CVR Committee of Management and the CVR considered, as a result of these trials, that she was somewhat unsuitable. In March 1929, Atkinson-Walker were asked to take the locomotive away and, anxious not to lose the order, they supplied a larger boiler with a total heating surface of 90 sq. ft. and a grate area of 5 square feet (previously, 3.3 square feet). They even sent two fitters over to Ireland to install it but all to no avail.

 The minutes of the CVR for November 1929 state "that no further dealings be entered into with Messrs Atkinson-Walker Wagons [sic] Ltd" following a further request to have the engine removed earlier that month. £950 was the price originally asked for  114 but this had, seemingly, not been paid, though it had by now cost the makers £1,200.

 114 lay out of use for some time until in December 1931 it was purchased by the County Donegal Railways –minus its boiler, cylinders, brakes and lighting – for £125. It was then fitted with a Gardner diesel engine and became no. 11 in the CDR's railcar stock, proudly carrying the name "Phoenix".  It had a useful life on the CDR despite a lack of speed, pulled demolition trains and survives to this day in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

 Whether the conversion to diesel was actually necessary is very much open to question however. Given that there is no record of any of the other examples of the make proving unsatisfactory in service and that several of them had long and active lives, one must call into question the competence of her crew on the Clogher Valley Railway.

The technique of firing a vertical, water tube boiler is, after all, rather different to that required for a normal locomotive boiler. When one considers that her bigger replacement boiler had a heating surface increased by 50% over that of the Redlake Tramway engine (a locomotive otherwise very similar), which was considered by a one-time employee to have been the most efficient form of motive power on the line (where the other locomotives were well tried Kerr Stuart designs) and by her driver to have been " nice engine to drive", it seems inconceivable that all, or perhaps any, of the blame for the failure of 114 should rest with her makers.

Two more four wheeled locomotives (115 and 116) were built in 1928 (or possibly 1929) but their classification and destination is not recorded. Finally, in 1930, a set of three Class B standard gauge locomotives ( nos. 117-119) were purchased by Harold Arnold & Son Ltd. who were contractors of Doncaster and Leeds; where they became Nos. 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Atkinson-Walker 118 also made some trial runs over LNER metals.

No original drawings of Atkinson-Walker geared locomotives are known to exist but The Engineer of 13th November, 1925, (just two years prior to the first railway locomotive) carried an article which included a section through the water tube boiler which was then being installed in the Atkinson Uniflow Steam Tractor. These steam tractors (or lorries), although called Atkinsons, were already being manufactured by Atkinson-Walker Wagons Ltd. at that date.

The boiler fitted to the railway locomotives was of the same design and was notable in that the construction was largely effected by welding rather than rivets. A 1928 book entitled Modern Traction for Industrial and Agricultural Railways included a chapter on geared steam locomotives which contained a section through a three cylinder Atkinson-Walker "uniflow" steam engine, a uniflow engine being one in which there are separate inlet and exhaust ports, more like the arrangement of an internal combustion engine. This drawing clearly shows the bevel gear by which the drive was connected to the transmission shaft from which the power was transmitted to the axles by roller chains.

What does survive however is the monochrome image at the top of this section, depicting a Type B locomotive on running trials at Bridgwater Collieries, Manchester in 1928.  This engine however differs from Number 104 "Lazarus" in terms of the upper cab panels, window layout ( with smaller panes, albeit still sliding), footsteps, squarer sandboxes and square section domed ended rather than cylindrical axleboxes. The locomotive in the black and white photograph is therefore likely to have been either Number 112 "Felspar 2", 115, 16 or one of the Harold Arnold & Son Ltd trio.

Common to the mystery monochrome machine, "Lazarus" and Number 110 "Goliath" however are parallel bodied buffers with large diameter heads clipped top and bottom.

With ready to run Atkinson Walker Type Bs not forthcoming, Neil Burgess described his own scratchbuilt 4mm locomotive - as photographed by Steve Flint at Peco Studios - in the August 2004 edition of Railway Modeller. Neil's "Blagdon" was presumed to have been Atkinson Walker 115 of 1928 which had found employment on a fictitious branch of the Somerset an Dorset Railway and was powered by a 24.5mm Tenshodo Spud unit which, he admitted, was 2.5mm over length but was readily available. The bodywork was from 10 thou nickel silver sheet on a 25 thou footplate and weighted by two pieces of 1/16" lead sheet inside the side tanks.

With ready to run Atkinson Walker Type Bs not forthcoming, Neil Burgess described his own scratchbuilt 4mm locomotive - as photographed by Steve Flint at Peco Studios - in the August 2004 edition of Railway Modeller.  Neil's "Blagdon" was presumed to have been Atkinson Walker 115 of 1928 which had found employment on a fictitious branch of the Somerset and Dorset Railway and was powered by a 24.5mm Tenshodo Spud unit which, he admitted, was 2.5mm over length but was readily available.  The bodywork was from 10 thou nickel silver sheet on a 25 thou footplate and weighted by two pieces of 1/16" lead sheet inside the side tanks.