Steam

We have one of the largest and most varied narrow-gauge steam locomotive fleets in the United Kingdom. Several are the only working examples of their type in the country, and there is a unique international character to the collection.

Click on the images to see larger versions, or see below for more information.

In addition, a stock book showing the railway's collection is available from our shop.

778

Type: 4-6-0T (side tank)

Date: 1917

Builder: Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, USA (Works No. 44656)

One of 495 locomotives built by Baldwin in 1916/17, for the UK War Department Light Railways. They operated on the thousands of miles of narrow-gauge tracks that supplied the front line trenches in the First World War. No 778 then worked in India until the 1980s, finishing at the Upper India Sugar Mills in Uttar Pradesh. The first (and so far only) one of its type to steam in Britain since the 1940s, it entered service in 2007, following a major overhaul.

2023

Type:0-8-0T (side tank)

Date: 1918

Builder: Lokomotivfabrik Krauss, Munich, Germany (Works no 7455) Krauss Brigadlok DFB 2023

One of around 2500 of the standard Brigadelok design to be built for First World War service wih the German army. Numbered 2023 in the military fleet, it arrived at the very end of the conflict, and within a few years it was being used on the sugar-beet railway at Maizy, in northern France. It moved to a sand quarry in nearby Variscourt in 1964, and was bought for private preservation in 1970. It subsequently passed through several hands, under cover but not on public display. It was bought in 2014 for the Leighton Buzzard Railway museum collection of Great War stock. After a stay at our French twin railway at Froissy, it has now arrived at its new home, and is on display at Stonehenge Works. Although not in steam, it played the part of the "captured" enemy locomotive at our simulated supply base commemorating the foundation of War Department Light Railways in 1916.

CHALONER

Type: 0-4-0VBT (vertical-boiler tank)

Date: 1877

Builder: DeWinton, Caernarfon, Wales

One of the oldest working narrow-gauge engines in the country - and the first steam engine on the Leighton Buzzard Railway, in the preservation era - ”Chaloner” is a fine example of DeWinton’s distinctive vertical-boiler design for the North Wales slate quarries. It is in working order, and represents its "home" railway with visits to other lines.

DOLL

Type: 0-6-0T (side tank)

Date: 1919

Builder: Andrew Barclay, Kilmarnock, Scotland (Works no 1641)

“Doll” was one of three identical locomotives built for the Sydenham ironstone quarries, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, which had been opened to meet the demand for First World War munitions. When the quarries closed in 1925, the locos were sent to Bilston steelworks, near Wolverhampton, where “Doll” worked until it was withdrawn in 1959. After brief spells in preservation near Kenilworth, Warwickshire, and at Bressingham, Norfolk, it arrived at Leighton Buzzard in 1969.

ELF

Type: 0-6-0WT (well tank)

Date: 1936

Builder: Orenstein & Koppel, Berlin, Germany (Works No 12740)

Built for use on plantation railways in Cameroon, West Africa, and originally wood-fired, which accounts for the distinctive spark-arrester chimney shape. This powerful engine was a regular on the passenger service until 2017, and is our newest steam engine! Now out of service awaiting overhaul.

P C ALLEN

Type: 0-4-0WT (well tank)

Date: 1912

Builder: Orenstein & Koppel, Berlin, Germany (Works No. 5834).

A typical O&K standard 20hp design, “P C Allen” was built for the internal railway system at the chemical works of Solvay & Cie, Torrelavega, Spain, and imported to England in 1963. It is named after the late industrialist Sir Peter Allen, who arranged its rescue, and subsequently donated it to the Leighton Buzzard Railway. At its last overhaul, it was returned to the unusual black/green livery it sported when it first arrived. Now out of service awaiting overhaul.

PEDEMOURA

Type: 0-6-0WT (well tank)

Date: 1924

Builder: Orenstein & Koppel, Berlin, Germany (Works No 10808)

One size larger than "Elf" (see below), this powerful locomotive was built for the coal mines of the Douro Valley, in northern Portugal. It was imported to the UK for preservation in 1972, but has only had some serious attention since its arrival at Leighton Buzzard a few years back. During the summer of 2016, it hauled its first trains since its withdrawal in Portugal in the 1960s, These were probably the first passenger trains it had worked in its 92-year life.

PIXIE

Type: 0-4-0ST (saddle tank)

Date: 1922

Builder: Kerr Stuart, Stoke-on-Trent, England (Works No. 4260)

A standard Kerr Stuart “Wren” class, supplied originally to contractors for use on road-building projects, “Pixie” was bought by Devon County Council in 1929, and sent to work at Wilminstone stone quarry, near Tavistock. It arrived at the Leighton Buzzard Railway in 1968, and, with “Chaloner”, was the mainstay of the passenger service for many years. Currently out of service for overhaul. Another "Wren" class locomotive, the privately owned “Peter Pan”, is also based at Leighton Buzzard.

RISHRA

Type: 0-4-0T (side tank)

Date: 1921

Builder: Baguley Cars, Burton-on-Trent, England (Works No. 2007)

This tiny machine is the only working survivor of the small number of steam engines built by Baguley, who were much better known for their diesel locomotives and railcars. Supplied to Kolkata (Calcutta) Corporation, India, it shunted coal wagons at a water pumping station. Like "Chaloner", it is in working order, and regularly visits other railways.

SEZELA No 4

Type: 0-4-0T (side tank)

Date: 1915

Builder: Avonside, Bristol, England (Works No 1738)

Built for the 125-mile railway system that once served the extensive Sezela sugar-cane plantation in Natal, South Africa. Now based at the Leighton Buzzard Railway but privately owned.