Jersey Railways & Tramways 2-4-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 5/La Moye (Locobase 20289)

Data from "The Railways of the Channel Islands", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 20 (14 February 1914) p. 60. See also The History of the Steam Locomotives that have Served The Electricity Supply Industry in South Africa, Eskom, archived at [], last accessed 23 July 2020. Works number was 1105 in June 1907.

This single tank was bigger than the rebuilt 2-4-0Ts of the previous century that still ran on the JR&T in 1907. The boiler and grate each had more area than their predecessors and supplied steam pressed to a much higher degree to cylinders with more volume to serve.

Formed from the liquidation of the Jersey Railways Company in 1895, the JR&T took over in 1896. The railway's service proved very popular for almost two decades, during which time the railway bought a single tank in 1907. It was bigger than the rebuilt 2-4-0Ts of the previous century. The boiler and grate each had more area than their predecessors and supplied steam pressed to a much higher degree to cylinders with more volume to serve.

Traffic began to decline during World War One. Railcars introduced in 1922 staved off the inevitable, but 1932 saw the elimination of winter service. A fire in October 1936 destroyed 16 carriages and part of the St Aubins station and the line never reopened.

Before that demise, however, the JRC had sold La Moye to the Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company of South Africa in 1928. Once she was established at Rosherville in September, the workforce named her Moggie for the shop cat that gave birth to four kittens in her cab.

An ESCOM diagram apparently shows a modified boiler fitted with fewer tubes (128), which yielded 640 sq ft (59.46 sq m). The firebox was smaller, too (70 sq ft/6.50 sq m).

After several decades, the Moggie was retired and wound up at the South African National Rail and Steam Museum in Randfontein.