Oakhill Brewery Railway 0-4-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain


Class Details by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media

Class Mendip (Locobase 20785)

Data from "A Somersetshire Light Railway", The Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXVI [26] (15 November 1920), p. 242. See also "Oakhill Brewery" on the Ashwick Parish website at [link], last accessed 4 August 2020.

Commenting that official restrictions on light railway operations indicated that they had "never been understood or appreciated in this [Great Britain] country", LM's 1920 report noted some of the many advantage for rural agricultural lines. The author said the Oakhill Brewery received no government funding when it decided build a narrow gauge railway to link its brewery in Oakhil in the Mendip Hills to Brinegar Station on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railways' Bath and Bournemouth line. [Oakhill is south of Bristol and southeast of the Bristol Channel

Facing down the perils of do-it-yourself financing meant "the results of working ...fully justified their enterprise." The brewery had already demonstrated staying power, having opened almost 140 years earlier in 1767.

The line presented no mean challenge as running the train from Oakhill village to Brinegar included briefly scaling a 3.3% grade when leaving the brewery and climbing a 1.9% grade in the first mile of the 2 3/4 mile road. For a light line, its 56 lb/yard (28 kg/metre) rails spiked on transverse rail sleepers seem quite substantial. The builders even built a three-section viaduct, each span 40 ft long.

This little Bagnall saddle tank was the first of the two locomotives that served the line. Although Oakhill Brewery supplied the LM report with the data, they did not include its weight.

A year later, Peckett delivered the Oakhill, a somewhat larger 0-4-0ST powered by 9 x 14" cylnders and turning 27" drivers. The report doesn't supply heating surface areas, but notes that the boiler held 72 1 5/8"(41 mm) tubes (compared to the Mendip's 64 1 1/2"/38 mm tubes).

Oakhill's was 6" (152 mm) shorter at 4 ft 3 in, but the saddle tank held 408 US gallons (340 Imp gall or 1,544 litres) and the bunker 5 cwt (560 lb or 254 kg) of coal. We do know the weight (adhesion and engine weights being identical) was 13 1/2 long tons (30,240 lb or 13,717 kg)/

The Oakhill Brewery suffered a major fire in 1925 which led to its takeover by Bristol United Breweries. The last business, Reg Keevil's New Oakhill Brewery, closed in 2004.

Principal Dimensions by Steve Llanso of Middle Run Media
ClassMendip
Locobase ID20785
RailroadOakhill Brewery Railway
CountryGreat Britain
Whyte0-4-0ST
Number in Class1
Road Numbers
Gauge2'6"
Number Built1
BuilderWG Bagnall
Year1903
Valve GearBagnall Price
Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase (ft / m) 4.75 / 1.45
Engine Wheelbase (ft / m) 4.75 / 1.45
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheelbase1
Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender) (ft / m) 4.75 / 1.45
Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle) (lbs / kg)
Weight on Drivers (lbs / kg)
Engine Weight (lbs / kg)
Tender Loaded Weight (lbs / kg)
Total Engine and Tender Weight (lbs / kg)
Tender Water Capacity (gals / ML)180 / 0.68
Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal) (gals/tons / Liters/MT)
Minimum weight of rail (calculated) (lb/yd / kg/m)
Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort
Driver Diameter (in / mm)22.50 / 572
Boiler Pressure (psi / kPa)150 / 1030
High Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke) (in / mm)7.5" x 12" / 191x305
Tractive Effort (lbs / kg)3825 / 1734.99
Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort)
Heating Ability
Tubes (number - dia) (in / mm)64 - 1.5" / 38
Flues (number - dia) (in / mm)
Flue/Tube length (ft / m)5 / 1.52
Firebox Area (sq ft / m2)18 / 1.67
Grate Area (sq ft / m2) 3.75 / 0.35
Evaporative Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)146 / 13.56
Superheating Surface (sq ft / m2)
Combined Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)146 / 13.56
Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume237.94
Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information)
Robert LeMassena's Power Computation563
Same as above plus superheater percentage563
Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area2700
Power L12163
Power MT

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