Work in Progress 9 April

On Saturday, ex-Dean Hill Hunslet 6652 our “new” diesel loco made it's first foray onto L&B metals courtesy of the regauged wheelsets recently returned from Towyn, enabling the loco to move from the car park to the shed for the first time.

No mean feat trailering wheelsets to Wales and back - so our thanks go once again to Chris Carder and the TR crew of Murray Dods,  Rob Prosser, Tim Wiklinson and Geoff Loynes for their continued work on our behalf.

Later in the day, the Gardner 4lw diesel engine was successfully started and renovation work now continues with the aim of bringing the loco into service as soon as possible.

History:  Hunslet 6652 is a 60hp diesel loco which we had in store for just over 3 years.  Built in 1965 to 2 foot 6 inch gauge it ran at Dean Hill Royal Naval Armaments Depot (RNAD) - later known as Defence Munitions Dean Hill, West Dean, Wiltshire .  Originally designed as a munitions depot for the Royal Navy it was used as a munitions storage facility since the 1940s and had facilities for the underground storage of an extraordinary amounts of munitions, including a bunker to temporarily hold nuclear warheads.  Surplus to Ministry of Defence requirements, it was decommissioned in 2003 and put out to tender in November 2005.   After the facility closed, 6652 was briefly on display at the “Explosion” museum in Gosport, before being purchased for use on the L&B.