Lambourn Valley 0-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class Eadweade (Locobase 20361)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the Cambrian Railways", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XX [20] (15 June 1914), p. 147. See also "Motive Power" on the Lambourn Valley Railway website, last accessed 16 April 2018 at [] . Works number was 811 in 1903.

As Ealhswith (Locobase 20360) stood in need of an overhaul, the LV decided to buy a third small tank in 1903. Hunslet's design was about the same size ,weighed the same, a firebox and grate of about the same dimensions, but the boiler held fewer but slightly larger diameter tubes. Cylinder volume increased slightly even though piston stroke length decreased by 2" (50.8 mm).

Only a year after its arrival, Eadweade joined the first two tanks in being sold to the Cambrian Railway.

Class Eahlswith (Locobase 20360)

Data from "The Locomotive History of the Cambrian Railways", Locomotive Magazine, Volume XX [20] (15 June 1914), p. 147. See also "Motive Power" on the Lambourn Valley Railway website, last accessed 16 April 2018 at []; and British Rail Western, "Lambourn Valley Railway Scrapbook produced on the occasion of the last trains on this line, Saturday 3 November 1973", last accessed at [] on 16 April 2018. Works numbers were 1161-1162 in 1898.

The Lambourn Valley Railway was first proposed in 1873, notes the 1973 Scrapbook, when Lambourn was considered an "extremely remote" part of Berkshire County." Some locals described Lambourn as "Nine miles from anywhere, leading to nowhere and a capital place to wear out old clothes." 25 years went by, however, before the railway opened on 2 April 1898.

Chapman & Furneaux succeeded to the Quarry Field works of the Black, Hawthorn & Co, Ltd in 1896. Although the company produced only 70 locomotives bearing its informative nameplate (Chapman & Furneaux, successors ...), it continued the works numbering of its predecessor.

Locomotive building ended in 1902 and all of the intellectual property passed to R &W Hawthorn Leslie.

So these little tanks came from a rather special collection of engines (Locobase 10743 describes a larger 0-6-0ST for Burry Port, another member.). The second engine was Aelfred, after the famous king and husband to Eahlswith. The LV could scarcely afford the 1,330 pounds sterling each for the pair, so Colonel Archer-Houblon agreed to buy them for the railway. In each cab, a plate declared "This engine is the property of Colonel Archer Houblon of Welford Park Newbury".

At first suffering from teething pains that delayed payment of the final installment, the two were brought up to standard by the Quarry Works and each then earned a favorable review from their drivers.

Sporting a dark blue livery lined in black with white edging, the two operated on the 12 mile stretch of Berkshire county, but as the LV never prospered, it (or Colonel Archer-Houblon, one supposes) sold the two in 1904 to the Cambrian, where they took the road numbers shown in the specs.