Metropolitan Water Board 0-4-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Kempton (Locobase 20445)

Data from "Tank Locomotive (2-Ft. Gauge) for the Metropolitan Water Board", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXI [21] (15 October 1915), p. 218; the History of Hampton's Waterworks & Railway", seen via the Wayback machine location [], last accessed 21 October 2018.

This little tanks served the 3 1/2 mile skinny gauge line linking coal delivery at Hampton-on-Thames with the steam engines at Kempton Park. The Deputy Chief Engineer estimated the cost at 17,000 BPS, noting in support of his plan that coal delivered this way would cost less than other options and the trains that delivered the coal could take away the furnace ash. Most of the system was laid with 35 lb/yard (17.5 kg/metre) rail, but the MWB also procured 320 feet of tram rail.

The MWB designed these Kerr Stuart engines--Hampton, Kempton, and Sunbury--to be the motive power for the newly opened railway. Price for all three was 2,187 BPS. All three locomotives were kept in excellent condition and are frequently described as "immaculate", a testimony to the loyalty of the crews to their mechanical charges.

Apparently, the locomotives repaid the attention with 32 years of service, only then being retired due to the closure of the railway in 1947.