Kent & East Sussex Railway

England's Finest Rural Light Railway

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New Audio Visual Guide

Enhance your visit to the Railway and the Colonel Stephens Museum with an audiovisual Guide available to reserve online or to hire when buying tickets. £3.50 for two people. Please click on the title for more information.

Relive the Fabulous Forties at the Kent & East Sussex Railway on 19 & 20 May

Capture the unique atmosphere of the 1940's at the Kent & East Sussex Railway in Tenterden on 19 and 20 May 2012 when our annual 1940's weekend gets into full swing. Click on the slide title to read more.

Carriage Maintenance Building Extension Appeal - click here for more information

The Kent & East Sussex Railway is running an appeal to raise £200,000 to double the capacity of the main carriage maintenance building at Tenterden station. The expansion is needed to provide sufficient high quality trains to operate the current train time table which carries 90,000 passengers annually.

Donate simply by Text Message!

Together with your help we can achieve our goal. Every donation helps. Simply click on the title to see how easy it is to donate by text message.

Visit Our Updated Photo Gallery

We have just added a collection of photos from our recent Steam Gala taken by Lewis J Brockway to our Photo Gallery. You can click on the slide title to view them.

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Shop Opening Times

W/C 14 May 2012

Wednesday 16 10-5.30

Thursday 17 10-5.30

Saturday 19 9.30-5.30

Sunday 20 9.30-5.30

Home > Stock Register > Steam Locomotives > No. 1 Gazelle

No. 1 Gazelle

Dodman & Co 0-4-2 Well Tank
(Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway No. 1)

Gazelle

This interesting and unique locomotive was built in 1893 by Alfred Dodman & Co of Kings Lynn to the order of Norfolk businessman William Burkett. Gazelle was originally a 2-2-2WT and in that form was used by its private owner for quite lengthy excursions on the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway as well as on the Great Eastern Railway.

The locomotive was purchased by Colonel Stephens in February 1911 via T.W. Ward for use as an inspection unit on the soon to be reopened Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway, where it became S&MR No. 1. It was rebuilt, probably locally, as a 0-4-2WT and used in company with an ex-LCC horse tram, to provide a passenger service on the the lightly populated Criggion branch . Locomotive and tram were withdrawn in the late 1920s or early 1930s but returned to inspection duties in 1937 when Gazelle assuming her present appearance although then painted olive green.

The S&MR was taken over by Army 1941 and Gazelle was used again as an inspection unit until her second withdrawal in about 1943 when the army kept her as a showpiece. With nationalisation of the railways the ownership of Gazelle was nominally transferred to British Railways Western Region but in May 1950, she was placed on loan to the War Department and moved to the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire for display on a plinth. In 1970 the locomotive was placed in the care of the National Railway Museum and, after a short period at York, was loaned to Museum of Army Transport at Beverley. When this closed in 1997, the locomotive was placed on loan with the Colonel Stephens Museum at Tenterden where it was given the nominal honour of No. 1 in the K&ESR fleet. What is thought to be the world's smallest standard gauge locomotive is unlikely to ever run again. It is currently undergoing cosmetic restoration for a short planned trip to the National Railway Museum at York for RAILFEST 2012.

TECHNICAL DATA

Weight 5 tons 10 cwt
Cylinders (2) 4 in. dia x 9 in. stroke
Wheels 2 feet 3 ins. diameter.