MR.5713 "Eagle"
MR.5713 "Eagle"
This locomotive was built by the Motorail & Tramcar Company of
5713 was ordered new on 2nd October 1396, by the Staveley Coal and Iron Co. Ltd., for use in their Campbell Brickyard in Staveley, Derbyshire. When the order was placed, it was also requested that the locomotive be fitted with a wooden cab and a transmission brake (which brakes the outside of the engine’s fly wheel). The locomotive cost £313 6s 8d to build, this included £6 12s 7d in wages!
5713 was promised for delivery on 12th October 1936 and was given the plant number
of 754/37, the latter number indicating the year it was put into service at the Brickyard. It is, therefore, not clear if the delivery was delayed, or the locomotive was on trial prior to being accepted.
5713 continued to work at the brickyard, until November 1968 when she moved to the Stanton & Staveley Concrete Pipe works, however, she then lay idle here for some time. This plant became B.S.C Stanton Pipe plant Ilkeston, Derbyshire and 5713 was then given the plant number 727/71. After some use at the plant, by February 1972 5713 was stored in the obsolete plant dump at the rear of the works.
The locomotive was purchased by A Wilson in August 1972 and moved to S Heasledon & Sons Ltd yard in Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire. She remained here until April 1975, when purchased by J Croskey who moved 5713 to the Brockham Museun near Dorking, and then to a farm near Capel in
In January 1976 5713 was exchanged with A Keef Ltd of
With the demise of the Wey Valley Railway (due to the land being required for redevelopment), 5713 and much of the railway moved to the Rural Life Centre in May 1982 to form the Old Kiln Light Railway. 5713 was named Eagle at the OKLR as when what was then the heaviest locomotive was being delivered, somebody said “the eagle has landed” and the name stuck.
5713 was subsequently sold firstly to D Knott and then R Bentley at the OKLR and continues to enjoy an active retirement on the Old Kiln Light Railway, not bad for a loco deemed as obsolete in 1972!
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Stanton Pipe works 01/09/1969.
Photo by P Nicholson |
