Trangkil No.4, the last steam loco built by Hunslet at Leeds, approaches the terminus of the Field Railway. Geoff Morris

Saturday September 19th started off badly when, on turning the radio on, I heard that buses were replacing trains between Stafford & Rugby due to vandalism of signalling equipment and we were planning to travel by trains to Tamworth for the Open Day at Statfold Barn Railway !. An alternative route (via Birmingham) was quickly worked out although in the event the problem was sorted out by the time we reached Stafford. From here we continued as planned down the WCML to Tamworth where a taxi had been arranged to take us to the site.

The Statfold Farm Railway is not normally open to the public as it is located on a working farm: indeed the railway is used to transport some of the crops (mainly seeds that are processed for their oils) in from the fields. However, it holds three Open Days a year - admission to them is by invite only. Our branch was able to obtain invites and a party of seven attended.

Another set of mixed gauge track on the Garden Railway. Geoff Morris

	The main loco shed: note the plethora of gauges. Geoff Morris

On site there is a short section of standard gauge track and two longer narrow gauge lines - the Field & Garden Railways. In addition to the operating locos, there were many more locos on site awaiting repair or restoration. One notable loco in service was Trangkil No.4, an 0-4-2ST which was the last steam loco built by Hunslet at their Leeds works in 1971 for a sugar mill estate in Java: it was repatriated to Statfold Barn in 2004. Graham Lee, the Farm's owner, now owns the Hunslet Engine Company and further Hunslet-plated locos have been built at Statfold Barn in the last few years.

Pointwork on the passing loop on the mixed gauge Field Railway. Geoff Morris

	Our party (left) prepares to join our "special". Geoff Morris

The Garden railway is a 2’ gauge line but there were also rails to accommodate 7¼” or 10¼” gauge locos inside the main running rails (although the miniature railway rails did not run across the turnouts). A single 2-coach train was operating over this line with one of two diesel locos in charge.

The Field line is longer (a round trip of about 3 miles) and is laid to mixed gauge to accommodate stock of both 2’ & 2’6” gauge. 4 trains (one a freight) were operating over it using a variety of steam (and the occasional diesel) locos: all but one of the coaches are 2’ gauge but locos of both gauges were in use. The short standard gauge line, which was not operational, crosses the Field railway on the flat but unlike the crossing at Porthmadog, it crosses both 2’ & 2’6” gauges simultaneously !

Waiting in the passing loop: our driver is standing in the field on the right (was it something we said?). Geoff Morris

	Waiting for the "road" to get from the Shed on to the Field Railway. John Cowlishaw

These two narrow gauge lines are linked although they were being operated as separate systems on the day - it would have been very difficult to integrate services on both lines as the Field line was being run to capacity. The 3-road engine shed saw a continuous parade of narrow gauge locos coming on shed for coal and water: one road is 2’ gauge only, another is dual (narrow) gauge while the third is triple gauge (2’, 2’6” & standard gauge) and runs over an inspection pit before ending in a triple gauge turntable ! All of this complexity requires some careful shunting to avoid 2’6” gauge stock being accidentally routed on to the 2’ gauge (only) line.

How to get a 2’ gauge train around a mixed gauge balloon loop when the outer rails are 2’ 6" apart. John Cowlishaw

	When you have adjacent tracks of different gauges then you have to be careful!. Geoff Morris

After we had ridden both the Field & Garden Railways, Chris persuaded them to give us a ride in their (2’ gauge) rail-mounted chain-driven Land Rover ! We left from the shed yard and made a complete circuit of the Field Railway before returning to the turntable at the far end of the shed. Here we helped turn the “loco” before handing over a donation for this “extra-curricular” trip which made the trackbashers amongst us very happy. This trip gave us unique views of the track complexity on a mixed gauge (2’ & 2’ 6”) railway that contains turnouts, a passing loop and a balloon loop (just think a bit about the problems and then look at the pictures for solutions).

Motive power for our "special". John Cowlishaw

	How the Land Rover was connected to the driving wheels. Geoff Morris

Aside from the rail-mounted Land Rover, the most unusual operational loco was one driven by compressed air, based on the designs of a prototype loco built for use in a North East colliery in the 19th century. It was not operating on either of the major railways but was making short demonstration runs along one of the roads off a recently-built dual (narrow) gauge turntable. It could only manage about 2 trips before the boiler needed recharging and had to be pushed back to the start point as it did not have a reverse gear ! With typical railway humour it was known as “ ’Issing Sid”.

Compressed air loco "Issing Sid" trundles on to the mixed gauge turntable. Geoff Morris

We spent 4 hours here but could easily have spent more as there is so much to see & do (without spending time out in the fields taking photos). Another taxi ride saw us back at Tamworth where we made our separate ways home. Some of us had purchased West Midlands Day Rangers and so headed north indirectly via New St & Nuneaton. A couple of us were fortunate to be at Crewe at the right time to see D1015 (Western Champion) heading south on a returning charter from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Didcot.

Both freight & passenger trains were running on the Field Railway. Geoff Morris

03/10/09