MODELLING THE LYNTON AND BARNSTAPLE

 

the Fairbourne Railway L&B loco

One of the largest models of an L&B locomotive was built by the late David Curwen of All Cannings, nr. Devizes.

Begun in 1977, it was delivered to the short lived Réseau Guerlédan in Brittany, France in 1978. The 5km line ran from Mur de Bretagne to Caurel and ran successfully until falling victim to local politics. As with so many models, this one did not carry Joy valve gear either. Curwen agreed to build the loco provided that he could fit Walschaerts valve gear.....a 6"/ft Minitrix chassis, so to speak! The locomotive was at that time named Jubilee.


The first steam at Mur de Bretagne station 1978

After a few initial teething problems, the loco ran extremely well in France and ran the last train before closure. The locomotive was then transported to the Fairbourne Railway which was in the process of being converted to the same gauge of 12 1/4".

Here it was repainted in Southern livery, renamed 'Yeo' and runs there to this day.

No 3 Camilla of the FCAF (Argentina)

This 2-6-2t was built by Winson Engineering of the UK in 1995. The outline loosely based on that of the famous Manning Wardle 2-6-2t type used on the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway in north Devon, UK. However the loco is in fact based very much around the standard Winson "ZB" type produced for several different gauge railways around the world.

No.3 proved to be a great example of "you get what you pay for" and rapidly proved to be almost useless. From 1999 onwards, when engineer Shaun McMahon arrived as fulltime engineer at FCAF, the locomotive has been modified. To date the modifications have been fairly limited but have still revolutionised the performance of 'Camila' turning it into a really useful locomotive.

When photographed in October 2004 'Camila' was the sole operating loco on FCAF which had just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Further modernisation is planned as funds and time permit.



     
     

 

 

  
      bring 'Lyn' back to life