Steam Locomotives

Peckett 0-6-0ST No. 2000

Loco in operation at the Helston Railway

The Helston Railway is pleased to now be operating ‘Peckett 2000’

The locomotive started its life in preservation in 1977 on the Nene Valley Railway where it remained until 1984. In 1984 the North Woolwich Old Station Museum in East London opened it it was placed on static display there.

Newham Council closed the museum in 2008 but some years before this the locomotive left the museum.

It has visited many heritage railways since 2000 and returned to Barrow Hill at the end of October 2018.

After a period on hire at Beamish the locomotive left there in June 2021 to go to the Helston Railway.

We are hoping that the loco has now found its true home and will stay here for many years – lets see……

Peckett 0-4-0ST No. 2100 “William Murdoch”

Currently undergoing full restoration at Helston

In 2016 we obtained our first ‘in-house’ steam loco. She is a Peckett 0-4-0 saddle tank, works No. 2100 built in 1949 and is named, somewhat appropriately, after the famed Cornish mining engineer William Murdoch.

She is believed to have spent her entire career at the former Hilsea Gas Works and upon the closure of that organisation ownership passed to Portsmouth City Council.   For many years she has been under the care of the GWR Preservation Group based at Southall and thanks to them and Portsmouth City Council we now have her on loan.

Peckett locomotives are the true work horse of many industrial rail complexes and the company has a long history of building robust engines.  In 1864 Fox, Walker and Company in Bristol began building four and six-coupled saddle tank engines for industrial use. They also built stationary engines and pioneered steam tramcars with most of their output being exported.  They were taken over by Thomas Peckett in 1880, becoming Peckett and Sons, Atlas Engine Works, Bristol. By 1900 the two companies had built over 400 locomotives.

The company continued producing a variety of small industrial and shunting engines at their factory located between Fishponds and Kingswood in Bristol. They became specialists in the field, with very precise specifications and standardisation of parts.

During the two World Wars, the works were especially busy, but by 1950 trade had largely dried up and, although in 1956 an attempt had been made to enter the diesel-mechanical market, the last steam engine was produced in 1958.

William Murdoch is currently undergoing its 10 year boiler overhaul and we are hoping to see her in service at some time in the future.

Peckett & Sons Works No 1788 Kilmersdon 0-4-0ST

Kilmersdon has now returned to her owner!

2018 saw the return of regular timetabled passenger trains to the Helston Branch Line for the first time in over 55 years. To achieve this the company hired ‘Kilmersdon’ from the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust. 

To provide more information, we have posted the following snippet from their website.

“When the Radstock collieries finally closed in 1973, the National Coal Board placed its industrial 0-4-0 saddle tank in the care of the Trust. Built by Peckett of Bristol in 1929 and numbered 1788, it was moved by road from Kilmersdon Colliery to the Trust’s Radstock base via an appearance at the Camerton Traction Engine Rally. Since the Trust’s move to Washford, it has given regular shunting demonstrations there, and has masqueraded as ‘Percy’ at the West Somerset Railway’s ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ events. Ownership was subsequently transferred to the Trust, and in 2013 following a complete overhaul, it appeared in splendid SDJR Prussian Blue lined livery.”

Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU)

Park Royal Class 103 Diesel Multiple Unit W50413 and W56169

This is an example of the thousands of Diesel Multiple Units (DMU) that British Rail (BR) introduced from 1955 under the ‘Modernisation Plan’ of the time.  The quantity of DMUs required was so large that their own workshops did not have the capacity to build them all and many private suppliers were awarded to contracts.  Park Royal Vehicles Ltd were given a contract for 20 two car units in 1955 which they built at the Crossley Motor Works in Stockport. They were introduced on BR in 1957 and our two car unit is the last surviving complete set.

Although the mechanical equipment on DMUs was highly standardised, BR’s regions and the manufacturers were given considerable freedom over the interior and exterior design. The Park Royal’s bodywork is a combination of light alloy steel members on an underframe of steel and with riveted joints. In service, the bodywork was to become troublesome and was the main reason why BR started to withdraw the class from 1972 with all having been withdrawn by the late 1980s.

When introduced in 1957, our unit was initially based at Ryecroft shed Walsall and worked many lines in the Birmingham, West and East Midlands areas of the London Midland Region. After Ryecroft shed was closed and West Midlands DMUs were all concentrated at Tyseley depot, most of the Park Royal Units were transferred to Chester Depot and spent their final days on BR services in Cheshire, Shropshire and North Wales. However, four units (including ours) were reallocated to the Western Region and our unit spent its last days on BR based at Laira Depot Plymouth and working the Kingswear Branch until closure in 1972. This line of course now forms the preserved Torbay and Dartmouth Railway.

The DMU was withdrawn from BR in 1972 and acquired by the West Somerset Railway (WSR) where it became one of the first passenger carrying trains on the Minehead branch after preservation.  The unit was sold by the WSR to the Diesel and Electric Preservation Group (DEPG) in 1982. Based at Williton the DMU was overhauled and saw continued use on the WSR.

In 1991, the unit had all its abestos removed which unfortunately involved removal of all the original seating and internal panelling. By 2000, the DMU was stored at Williton in this ‘semi-restored’ state, and in 2005 the DEPG offered the unit for sale. The Helston Diesel Group became the preferred bidder in March 2006 and the DMU was moved to a temporary base at Gwinear Road in May 2006 until the railway at Trevarno had been completed.  The DMU was moved to its current location at Trevarno on 4 September 2007.

The DMU is powered by two AEC 150bhp horizontal drive engines each with a four speed Wilson epicyclic gearbox  and fluid flywheel transmission.  The unit is driven from the cab via an Electro-pneumatic control system and has a vacuum braking system.

Volunteers have restored most of the interior of the Driving Trailer Composite and some of the Driving Motor Brake Second including the fitting of seats recovered from Class 142/143 Railbuses as the original seating was destroyed when the asbestos was removed.  First class seating has been installed from a Metro-Cammell Class 101 DMU.

Although one of the engines on the unit has been successfully started, a lot or work is required to repair the control, electrical and braking systems before it can move under its own power. It is hoped to eventually make an application for lottery funding to restore the unit to full working order.

Passenger Carriages

Pressed Steel Co. Class 117 DMU Trailer Composite with Lavatory (TCL)

Originally part of a three car DMU set built by Pressed Steel Co in 1959 to operate Thames Valley commuter services out of Paddington.  By 1975 59521 was allocated along with the majority of the class to Reading DMU depot.  The services it would have provided were mainly local trains between Paddington and Oxford, with some extensions to Banbury and also workings between Oxford and Hereford, Reading and Basingstoke and between Reading and Bedwyn.  In the 1970s a Class 117 DMU was also diagrammed to work an evening service between Paddington and Birmingham Moor Street – hardly suitable stock for an otherwise InterCity route.

In 1982, 59521 was reallocated to the (now closed) Bristol Bath Road depot. Here it would have worked services in and around Bristol including to Taunton, Cardiff, Portsmouth Harbour, Weymouth, Severn Beach, and Worcester and on the Cheltenham to Swindon line.  Bristol Bath Road DMU allocations also shared work with Tyseley DMUs between Hereford and Birmingham New Street via both Kidderminster and Bromsgrove. Although unlikely – as Laira had its own DMU allocation – it is possible that 59521 may have worked into Devon and Cornwall.

In 1987, 59521 was allocated to Tyseley, where it would have worked most of the Diesel commuter services in the West Midlands – but quite possibly may have ended up on Summer Saturday trains to Skegness as well.

By 1994, when most of Tyseley’s services were converted to Sprinters or electrified, 59521 spent its final working days for BR based at Haymarket Depot in Edinburgh working services in Fife, and along the ‘Central Belt’ to Glasgow.

By 2000, 59521 was stored surplus to requirements at Perth and finally in 2001 ‘off-lease’ awaiting disposal at the Pigs Bay MOD depot in Shoeburyness.  In 2004, Dorset County Council acquired some Class 117 DMUs – including 59521 – and stored them at the former Nuclear Power Station sidings at Winfrith.  Their intention was to use them on a restored link to Wareham on the Swanage railway.  In 2007, the site at Winfrith had to be cleared and 59521 along with a Power Car was moved to the Midland Railway Centre at Swanwick, Derbyshire. In 2011, Dorset County Council confirmed it no longer needed 59521 and it was sold to private individuals until March 2012 when volunteers in the Helston Diesel Group purchased the vehicle for use on the Helston Railway.

59521 has carried a variety of liveries, green when first delivered in 1959 then rail blue.  When refurbished in the late 1970s it received a white livery with the blue band. This would have become Blue and Grey by the 1980s and finally into the Regional Railways livery it had when delivered to us – Scotrail branding being applied whilst based at Haymarket.  Until the 1980s it would have been numbered W59521 (the ‘W’ denoting Western Region).

We intend to use 59521 with one of our Ruston Shunters, fitting the shunter with vacuum brake equipment to operate 59521’s brakes.  A repaint into a more appropriate livery is also planned, possibly Chocolate and Cream.

British Railways Mark 1 Suburban E43147

E43147 is a British Railways built Mark 1 Suburban coach. At only 57ft long the suburban coaches were designed for and usually found running on branch lines, particularly those with tighter curvature.

The coach is fitted with Vacuum brakes and steam heating as original.

E43147 is on long term loan to us, with thanks to our friends at the South Devon Railway.