Staffs industrial steam preservation
Foxfield
10 October 2004
The Foxfield railway is an unusual
little setup in the rolling Staffordshire
countryside near Blythe Bridge.
Unusual in a number of ways -
including its fearsome gradients, its
large stock of ex-industrial steam and
diesel locomotives, several of which
are unique and historically significant
- and the fact that the line was never
part of the BR network, and never carried regular passenger
services.
Pride of place must go to three locomotives built in the 19th
century - Bellerophon, built in 1874 at Haydock Foundry, Beyer
Peacock 1827 of 1879, and No. 6, built by Robert Heath in 1885.
But don't forget the others - for example the two crane tanks,
both very different, or the most unusual little Kerr Stuart saddle
tank (no. 4388 of 1926) which looks for all the world as though it
was built to 2' gauge and then grew until it fitted the standard
gauge. My wife, looking at it, suggested that its saddle tank had
shrunk in the wash. I think I knew what she meant. Some of the
diesels are worth a second glance - especially the Kerr Stuart
6wDM no. 4421 of 1929, a representative of that company's
desperate attempts to stay afloat in the dark days of the
depression.
Geoff’s Rail Diaries
Today's locomotive in steam was
"Hawarden", a chunky and powerful 0-4-
0ST built in 1940 by Bagnalls of Stafford,
works no. 2623. We took a ride along the
pleasantly scenic route to Dilhorne Park,
where the train runs round before
returning to the line's HQ at Caverswall
Road. Beyond Dilhorne Park, the line
descends one of those gradients
mentioned earlier to the former Foxfield Colliery, a short section
of track which does not see regular passenger traffic yet.
On our previous visit, perhaps ten years ago, a little Barclay 0-4-
0ST had struggled noisily to get its two-coach train up to
Dilhorne. Hawarden seemed to make light work of what was
probably a heavier train of two ex-BR Mk II coaches, in the
attractive if somewhat non-authentic early BR maroon and
cream livery.
Yet another pleasant little outing to a line which, despite its
relative seniority in the preservation field, still has some
potential.
Link:
Foxfield Railway
