Sold September 2023 Back to Archive

I first saw a picture of this engine in a brochure which, as a fourteen year old schoolboy, I'd sent off for from Milner Engineering at The Old School, Chester. As I remember it showed John Milner in white coat, looking every inch the ex-aerospace engineer that he was, in the workshop with the first two Hunslets his then new business had built - "Moel Fammau" and "Pendle Witch", along with a Baldwin C19.

I'd first visited North Wales in 1969 on a family holiday - it started a lifelong love of narrow gauge steam (as well as membership of the Ffestiniog Railway Society, the FR still in my view the best railway in the world!). I don't remember the exact price of a Milner Hunslet in those days, but do remember that the £1.60 a week I made from my paper round would have meant many years saving - and also that my father remained resistant to all suggestions that he should buy one...

The first two Hunslets were built for Eric Doyle, a dentist in Bolton and latterly chairman of the 7 1/4 inch gauge society. What the Jumbles Railway, laid on land beside his house, lacked in quality of permanent way it more than made up for in motive power. On the occasion of my visit - it would been around 2003/2004 - the sheds housed, as well as the Hunslets, a Romulus, a recently delivered Tinkerbell and the quirky Cromar White GWR Railcar with Stuart engine and vertical boiler.

When the collection was finally dispersed, we bought both the Hunslets. "Moel Fammau", the first engine built was quickly re-homed but we kept "Pendle Witch", hoping at some stage to find time to put it back into working order - at that time the rear-mounted dome had been sawn off to service the otherwise inaccessible regulator.

However, as with the cobbler's children, the Hunslet kept falling to the back of the workshop queue as other work came in. Finally, with the arrival of a 15 inch gauge Pacific which looked like it was going to need about ten times as much work as the Hunslet, we decided - reluctantly - to move "Pendle Witch" on.

She went to a long time customer, a man with a similar passion for narrow gauge (indeed so much so that he's now moved house to be close to the best railway in the world, where he regularly wields a fireman's shovel on the footplate).

Following another change of ownership, the engine recently came back to us as the owner downsized his collection. Now fully restored, to our delight it remains virtually as built in 1975, including the original boiler - re-tubed, but still bearing its original insurance plate on the backhead, the engine itself carrying Milner's works plate.

And so it was earlier in the week that, nearly fifty years after first receiving Milner's brochure, I finally got my hands on the regulator of an engine I'd coveted since a teenager! Suffice to say it didn't disappoint - the engine runs beautifully, steams freely and - now coming up for its half century - whilst still in excellent condition, has much of the patina of the real thing. It's the nicest Hunslet we've had in any gauge, period!

The tender is something of an enigma. It came to us with the engine first time round and appears to have been built for it, although we suspect not by Milner - it's simply conceived and rather crudely made. Partly repainted in the past, it still requires cosmetic work to bring it up to scratch.

A fine, historically significant locomotive. It's in first class order and ready either to use or simply put on display in the house to admire (you may be able to see where this is going...). However, should anybody be heartless enough to buy the thing and deprive us of it they will receive - in addition to 12 months warranty and starter kit of firing irons, oil and coal - a half day's tuition in the firing, driving and maintenance of this rather special engine should they so desire.