Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway No. 11

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 11th November 2011 by Liam Physick

This photograph, taken from Fifteen Inches Between the Tracks, shows Bonnie Dundee, the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway’s No. 11, a tank locomotive that was built in 1900 by Kerr Stuart for Dundee gasworks, before being bought by Ian Fraser about 1960 and donated to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in 1976. Originally a 0-4-0WT engine, the Bonnie Dundee was rebuilt in 1982 as a 0-4-2T. In 1996, it was rebuilt with a new boiler and converted into a tender engine. Currently, it is out of active service and from 2007 to 2010 was on static display at the Windmill Farm Railway. The Railway itself originally opened on 24th May 1875 on a three-foot gauge to transport hematite iron ore from mines near the village of Boot to the standard-gauge Furness Railway at Ravenglass: from 1876 to 1908 it also carried passengers. It closed in 1913 as iron ore demand had declined and passenger numbers in summer were small. In 1915-17, the line was converted to its present-day gauge of 15 inches, carrying passengers and granite. The quarries it served closed down in 1953 and the line was sold in 1960, but was preserved, and remains a popular and successful tourist attraction

Tagged under: steam locomotives, tender locomotives, tank locomotives, heritage railways, rail gauge, ravenglass and eskdale railway, windmill farm railway, bonnie dundee, furness railway

Categorised under: Landmarks, Landscapes & Locomotives