English Electric 'Stephenson' class 0-6-0DH

Kimberley

The rugged EE design was a  worthy competitor to Sentinel in the 1960s. Built at Darlington and latterley Newton-le-Willows, the design owes much reputedly to W G Bagnall, although the cast desk assembly is undoubtedly RSH. The story goes that a Sentinel 0-6-0DH, stopped at Stafford in sight of Bagnall's work, was promptly beseiged by the latter's drawing office staff - the Sentinel driver locking himself in the cab to deny access! Most Stephensons used Dorman engines (Dorman being part of EE and Bagnall's first choice being also in Stafford) but a considerable batch once roamed Corby Steelworks with a tight-fitting Paxman 8RPHLX under the casings, and "Kimberley" was one ofa  number of both 0-4-0s and 0-6-0s built with 12 or 14 litre Cummins.

Restored to running order, it was despatched to Wembley, London on hire to shunt trains of  'Evian' and 'Volvic' bottled water for the importers. During this time, a split coolant hose was not spotted by its crew, and thus it became the world's first air-cooled Cummins! Such is the ruggedness of this make of engine, and (to be fair) the relatively light duty, the power unit apparently took no harm. When the contract for distribution was taken over by a firm in Coventry, it was allocated to Barrow Hill as shunter for short-lived RMS-subsidiary Mainline Rail.

Acquired by Andrew in March 2008, it went to Wirksworth (where pictured above at the top of the incline) but in 2009 transferred to Blodwell Junction on the Cambrian Railways Society's Llynclys Junc.-Blodwell project. Following departure of some of the locos at Llynclys, "Kimberley" was transferred there at the end of July 2010.

Kimberley pictured on the east side siding at Llynclys as the service dmu returns from Pant.

Further photos of the loco can be found in the Gallery section, here