Yours etc.,

    (We are indebted to Doug for all his efforts in sorting out the numerous items which our friends at Pecketts so kindly donated, and look forward to seeing his promised article in print. — Hon. Eds.)

*                        *                         *

    Regarding the Peckett inside cylindered 0−4−0 saddle tank SYDNEY (see my "Picture Parade" in RECORD 7, page 147) I am pleased to say that Mr R. H. Inness remembers this particular locomotive being offered for sale in 1903. It had 15½in by 22in cylinders, 3ft 9in wheels, 140lbs per sq in boiler pressure, 7ft 6in wheelbase, and the price asked was £800. SYDNEY was Peckett 646, built in 1896 for Lever Bros. Ltd., Port Sunlight, where it was evidently too long in the wheelbase. Mr.G. Alliez suggests that it later went to the Glengarnock Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., Ayrshire.

    I notice that there is a mention in the article on the Hudswell Clarke Standard 14" Locomotives (RECORD 7, page 154) to the Harrington Shore Works in Cumberland. This Works extracted magnesium from sea WATER. Seaweed indeed!

Yours etc.,

    It was early in 1965 that I prepared the article which appeared under the above title in RECORD 8 and I have since discovered a further variation of the type which your readers may like to know of, if only for the sake of completeness.

    Whilst on holiday in August 1965 in the Basque country I went to Barre de l’Adour, near Bayonne. The visit was made for the scenic attractions and I was surprised to find, dumped in a yard belonging to the Département des Basses Pyrenees, a metre gauge vertical boilered 0−4−0T with vertical cylinders - a type which I had not previously encountered in France. The locomotive had not been used for many years and was in very derelict condition. She carried no means of identification and was so badly rusted that, even had any numbers been stamped on the motion etc., they had long since been obliterated, The corrugated iron roof was unusual by any standards.

    Since returning from holiday I have written to the Divisional Engineer of the Basses Pyrenees Département but have received no reply. If any reader can offer a clue to the maker‘s identity I shall be very pleased to have details.

Yours etc.,

    (Our apologies to Mr Clingan for mis-spelling his name on page 161, RECORD 8. The illustration on page 166 was of the Cail type 138; we regret that the caption for this photograph disappeared during printing. - Hon. Eds.)

    I was very interested in Ron Fraser‘s article on "A Free Railway in Spain" (RECORD 7) as in September 1965 I visited La Pereda. Being Sunday no locomotives were working but, despite most inclement weather, close scrutiny of those present was carried out.

    The motion of RIOSA is stamped "HSP 1432" which would seem to indicate that the builder is Haine St. Pierre. LOREDA No.2 carries a boiler back plate "Cockerill 3071/1923" but as the motion is stamped "SJC 3066" it thus appears to be Cockerill 3066 (of 1923?). LA FOZ No.1 is strictly speaking a pannier tank rather than a side tank. LA PEREDA and SANTA BARBARA which incidentally are 6 and 7 (not No.6 and No.7) have "HR - TALLERES - 1955" and "TALLERES LA - PEREDA - 19602 respectively on their nameplates, perhaps indicating extensive local rebuilding at these dates. LA PEREDA was dismantled, the frames and wheels being outside the works compound and the remainder within, together with some assorted remains including six large and two small wheels and a part-scrapped firebox from the Hunslet 0−6−2 side tank which had been cut up earlier in 1965. It would seem that Sharp Stewart 4590 has also been scrapped. The tubs from the coke ovens are now cable hauled and the diminutive No.5 - withdrawn for scrap - was supported on sleepers above rail level, near the foot of the incline, and very rusty.

    The lower map on page 135 is slightly inaccurate as one 5ft 6in gauge line extends by the side of the incline; CESAR and RIOSA are left standing there when not in use. Also, the 75cm gauge locomotives do not reside in the premises marked "locomotive depot and works" which are solely "works", but stand in the open or under the awning of the screens. An exhibited notice (and the Telephone Directory) suggest that the mines and railway are now owned by ENSIDESA (Empresa Nacional Siderúrgica, S.A.).

    A new, and brilliantly illuminated, unstaffed RENFE halt, named "La Pereda", is sited on the west side of the line just north of where the connection to the screens runs off. It was opened on 29th August 1965, according to the Hulleras de Riosa guard and a RENFE notice, but still awaited entry in the current timetable "Horario Guia". The VA halt is in fact named "Pereda" and is not unstaffed. By VA from here through Ablaña to Mieres cost two pesetas (threepence), whereas the fare for half the distance from Ablaña to Mieres Puente (a halt level with Mieres VA station) by RENFE was five pesetas - without the attraction of steam haulage!

Yours etc.,

    I was very interested in the article in RECORD 7 as in Scotland there used to be an industrial railway where the only motive power was a traction engine.

    In 1927 a new distillery was opened at Stronachie in the remote moorlands of Kinross-shire. A railway of about 4ft 0in gauge was laid alongside a cart track to the village of Meikle Seggie, 3½ miles distant, where there was a metalled road leading to the market and railhead at Milnathort (Edinburgh-Perth line). Everything in and out of the distillery had to go along the railway.

    A traction engine was adapted to operate the line, one (the front) set of wheels being flanged and adjusted to gauge. With one set of wheels on the track and the other (rear) set outside the rails, it hauled a short train of wagons with conventional flanged wheels. At Meikie Seggie the whole caravan ran off the rails on to the metalled road with the traction engine being steered in the normal fashion. Derailments were very frequent and soon both the track and the road into Milnathort were in a sorry condition. The result was that in 1935 the track from Meikle Seggie to Stronachie was metalled and the railway abandoned. Unfortunately I have no record of the traction engine’s identity, and the Company’s records have been destroyed. Many of the local farmers remember "Auld Steamie" well but as yet I have not unearthed any photographs. The distillery was demolished about 1955 but spaces in the concrete floors still mark the course of the old sidings.

Yours etc.,

    (Our apologies to the author of the article, Mr J. P. Mullett, for misspelling his name on page 144, RECORD 7. - Hon. Eds.)

    I hear from the grapevine that more RECORDs than usual are expected in 1966 and in the hope that you may have some room for Africa I am submitting the enclosed article on some narrow gauge lines in Angola. (This will appear in a forthcoming issue. - Hon. Eds.) My tour via the Congo, Zambia, Rhodesia and Mozambique was mainly of a main-line nature, and I didn’t see much of the very few industrial railways in those countries. From all accounts, the Zambesi Sawmills railway is a story in itself but all I saw was the terminus at Livingstone and a train preparing to leave on its all-night journey through the jungle at a maximum speed of 15 m.p.h. The coaches were somewhat dilapidated and there was a large overflow of native passengers in open wagons. The driver-cum-guard (a former G.W.R. man from Worcester) invited me to join him on the engine for the journey but unfortunately I had to head south that night on the Mail for Bulawayo. He told me that working conditions on the logging branches are quite unbearable with ants ready to eat you alive if you‘re not careful! The pay is about £80 per week but he couldn‘t stand it for long out there.

    On a recent visit to Mozambique heavy rain spoiled my visit to the 2ft 0in Joao Belo system. We had snow out here recently and I‘ve been blamed for bringing along English-type weather!

Yours etc.,

    (Until leaving for South Africa Chas handled the distribution to members of both Bulletin and RECORD. We wish him well in his new post. - Hon. Eds.)

I was pleased to see a mention of Kerr Stuart 1193 in Geoffrey Horsman’s excellent article on the "Wren" class (RECORD 5/6, page 96). According to the Marine Dept. boiler records this locomotive was owned very shortly after arrival by the New Zealand Shipping Company. A subsidiary of this firm is the Federal Shipping Company, and I wonder if this could be the "F.S.C." mentioned in Kerr Stuart records? I think that all the various changes of ownership of no. 1193 were just the usual corporate jugglings of big combines, and as the Federal boats specialise in frozen meat cargoes they seem likely to be tied in with the ownership of the works. The railway (about a ½ to ¾ of a mile long) connects the freezing works with a small wharf and has some pretty steep grades. But the loads must be light (it’s downhill with the load anyway) as the line is now served by a couple of very small Ruston & Hornsby 12 hp diesels which work only when there is a ship in port.

Yours etc.,