Below: This coming weekend the Middleton Railway in Leeds is celebrating 200 years of steam locomotion in the area with a spectacular gala and programme of events. In 1812 the Blenkinsop engine took to the rails at Middleton Colliery and to note this, the very similar Steam Elephant is attending from Beamish. The key difference is that the 2001 built replica is an adhesion engine (as was the original) whereas the Blenkinsop design used a rack rail outside of the running rails, with a large toothed wheel on the locomotive. Today saw a steam test for ‘Nellie’ and a number of trial runs, as well as attendance by the press. Here the loco is seen in the sidings at Moor Road Station, where it will be operating over the weekend, offering driver experience opportunities.
Below: Two stalwarts of the north east coal industry – 1310 is a class H, later Y7, and a resident at the Middleton Railway. It also saw service with the NCB at Waterhouse Colliery in County Durham.
Below: David Grindley, from Beamish’s T&I team, chats to the descendants of another doyen of early locomotive design, Matthew Murray.
Below: Nellie and the H class again.
Below: A view of the 1815 locomotive exploring the yard.
Below: A German TV crew interview David about Steam Elephant, its history and Beamish.
Below: A pause in the rain allowed an arty shot in a temporarily still puddle!
Below: In the sunshine…
Below: Also in steam was Manning Wardle ‘Matthew Murray’ which was also taking part in the filming. This locomotive is not dissimilar to our own MW, No.1532 ‘Newcastle’.
Below: A useful reference for any Manning Wardle owner or custodian – the old boiler from MW ‘Sir Berkeley’ which will also be operating (with a newer boiler!) over the weekend.
A huge amount of effort has gone into arranging the event and more details can be found on the dedicated website at
http://www.middletonrailway.org.uk/ with seven engines in steam including visiting Bagnall 0-4-0ST from the Foxfield, Furness Railway No.20 and Steam Elephant plus four home based locomotives, bus trips of the local engine building heritage, exhibitions and regular passenger and goods train operation over the main line and Balm Road branchline, this event looks set to be one of the years significant dates for the enthusiast and historian…
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