Rachel

rachel_1

Facts & Figures

Name & Number Rachel
Class Motor Rail & Tram Car Co.
Wheel Arrangement 0-4-0
Built 1924, Bedford
Horse Power 40hp (Dorman Petrol)
Previous Owners James Cropper & Co. Burneside Paper Mills

History

This locomotive was built in 1924 by the Bedford firm of Motor Rail and Tram Car Co. (later Simplex Mechanical Handling) and delivered to James Cropper & Co. at Burneside Paper Mills near Kendal.

Locomotives of the same design worked on the light railways servicing the Western Front during the Great War or 1914 to 1918.

This particular locomotive, weighing 10 tons and powered by a 40hp Dorman petrol engine was used to transfer wagons between the mill and Burneside Railway Station. It also made a quaint sight trundling along the tramway by the side of the road to Cropper’s other mill at Cowan Head, 1½ miles away.

Named after one of the family firm’s daughters who loved to travel on the engine, Rachel was relegated to standby in 1949, then stored until eventual resale and transfer to Haverthwaite in March 1973.