The Kerr Stuart That Never Was

Boyd’s history of the Talyllyn Railway was published back in 1988 when I was an impressionable eleven year old. I spent hours looking through the illustrations of a railway barely recognisable to the modern day Talyllyn. Like many others, much of my knowledge of the history of the Talyllyn Railway was gleaned from that book and as a result, myself and many others will have believed the tale of the original pair of locomotives struggling on for eighty five years with their increasingly dilapidated boilers made from ‘Low Moor Iron’ preserved by the mystical properties of Welsh mountain water.

Whilst fellow Talyllyn people who’d known Boyd personally mention that all might not be as it seemed with all that he wrote, I was too young and naive to know any better.

Fast forward to Boyd’s death in 2009, the following summer, I was enjoying a volunteering stint on the Talyllyn when our then Archivist, the late Don Newing (a fellow East Midlands based volunteer), walked past me carrying an arm full of documents. Safely in an office, Don proceeded to explain that these papers had come to the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum (of which Boyd had been involved with the establishment of) from Boyd’s personal collection. 

Contained within these documents were correspondence from the Haydn Jones era where Haydn Jones was looking at whether he could replace the aged loco fleet of the railway he’d just bought with new machines.

For those less versed on their Talyllyn history, a brief synopsis might be beneficial. The Talyllyn was born as a result of the McConnell family of Manchester cotton spinners needing to diversify during the American Civil War when the war resulted in a disruption in the supplies of cotton.

Seeing the success of the Welsh slate quarries and no doubt encouraged by the success of those in the Corris area, the McConnells bought and industrialised Bryn Eglwys quarry intending to tap in to the same seams of slate from the adjacent valley, expanding the hamlet of Abergynolwyn into a village to house the quarrymen and built the Talyllyn Railway to move the slate.

The quarry was never as successful as had been hoped for, the McConnell’s over investing and essentially being ‘sold a pup’ as we might know it.

William McConnell died in 1902, bequeathing the Railway and his interest in the quarry between his four sons. When the lease of the quarry expired in 1909, the writing was on the wall for both the quarry and the Talyllyn Railway. In a purely commercial world, the Talyllyn could very easily have gone the same way as the original Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway that finally succumbed four years later.

Newly elected Liberal MP for the area Henry Haydn Jones attempted to find a buyer, but when he couldn’t find one he purchased Bryneglwys Quarry, Abergynolwyn Village and the Talyllyn Railway himself in 1911 as a means of aiding employment in his constituency. This started a tale of surviving against the odds that would see the Talyllyn survive to become the first preserved railway forty years later.

Inheriting a railway with run down equipment, Haydn Jones set about making repairs. The evidence that came to light in 2009 shows Haydn Jones costing up whether to repair or replace his locomotive fleet. Whilst this material was omitted from Boyd’s history, thankfully this material has been available to later authors. A much more accurate (albeit less romantic) overview of pre-preservation Talyllyn locomotive history can be found in Martin Fuller’s history of Talyllyn locomotives.

The documents shown to me back in 2009 showed that Haydn Jones spoke to Kerr Stuart regarding a Tattoo loco on two separate occasions (the first pre-dating the Corris example by nearly a decade), and to Bagnall regarding one of their 0-4-0 saddle tank locos.  In 1913 Haydn Jones was again talking to Kerr Stuart and the files included a drawing for a neat 0-6-0 side tank that took parts from the Tattoo.

None of these proposals, nor the post-Great War interest in an ex-war department Hunslet 4-6-0 came to anything and instead the aging Talyllyn and Dolgoch soldiered on. It could easily have been a very different looking fleet at the time of preservation.

The Kerr Stuart 0-6-0 caught my eye and Don kindly provided a copy of the drawing. This drawing sat in my file for several years, from time to time, it would surface and I would consider various options in how to build a 7mm scale version.

Copy of the drawing provided by Kerr Stuart to the Talyllyn Railway in 1913. Part of the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum Trust Collection.

These had never got anywhere until late last year, a new company on the scene ‘Gubbin Box Models’ announced that they would be producing a 3D printed model of this Talyllyn Might Have Been loco and I bought one at Mickleover in January.

Inside the box was a 3D printed loco body, a choice of two smoke box doors, a set of buffers and a cab roof designed to sit on the Hornby 0-6-0 Peckett chassis. Searching for a suitable chassis at a reasonable price, my patience was rewarded a few weeks later by finding an as new second hand Peckett for considerably less than the price of a new one from a well known O gauge second hand dealer.

Once cleaned, the body received some sanding down, taking great care not to damage the excellent rivet detail.

Both buffer beams were filed to suit my couplings. At the front, a coupling in the NEM socket fitted. At the rear, a mounting pad for couplings was added due to the increased overhang. I also added some strips of styrene underneath of the body to help locate the chassis squarely on the body, these are hidden when the final coats of black paint were applied.

The chassis has two holes for screwing the Peckett body on, I used the rear most one and  drilled a hole in to the body, tapping the hole for the bolt to secure the body and chassis together. Ideally, I would have preferred to have been able to do the same to the leading hole, but the body is hollow in that area to allow for chassis clearance.

With very little to do construction wise, I added the buffers and got on with painting.

It has been suggested that in the Haydn Jones era, the locomotives were painted whatever shade of green paint Haydn Jones had going spare at his ironmongers shop. Keeping that tradition alive, I chose a suitable shade of green.

My preference is for the loco to be broken down in to more sub assemblies to make painting easier (especiallly the nicely detailed cab interior) but with some unaccustomed dexterity, I was able to succeed in painting the single piece body and the result is as seen in the photos.

Finished off with a pair of KS works plates I had in stock, the loco is most suitable for use on Wheal Ponder. All in all, a pleasing and quick project to accomplish.

A fine pair of Kerr Stuart locos - Alongside my Skylark, there are more Kerr Stuart locos to add in time.