The Motley Diesels

The Motley Diesels

By John Waldron

Gavin Motley is a Blacksmith and Agricultural Engineer from East Keal in Lincolnshire.
He has become involved in miniature railways through his knowing and carrying out engineering work for Stuart Ravell, who owns the Kirkby Green Light Railway

(KGLR). Gavin did not originally have any interest in railways either full size or miniature but being a friend of Stuart’s and having engineering skills he was prevailed upon to assist in the maintenance and running of the KGLR. Gavin soon became aware that the railway could make use of a diesel locomotive as a stop-gap for when the steam locomotives at Kirkby Green were playing up. This was something that he felt he could provide and as Gavin just happened to have a suitable power plant around his workshop, he asked Stuart if a diesel would be useful. Stuart agreed to this proposal and so the idea of a diesel locomotive for the KGLR was born.

 Teesside Steelmaster

The first fruit of Gavin’s efforts was the miniature Class 37 No 37501
‘Teesside Steelmaster’.

Steelmaster, as it has become known at Kirkby Green, is a ‘caricature’ of a Class 37 with no real attempt to get the overall dimensions anything like scale but rather to give the impression of Class 37 type locomotive. The locomotive was constructed over the period of 2005 to 2006 and was first trialled at Kirkby Green in May 2006. It has served as a regular and reliable player at Kirkby Green since then, becoming a popular locomotive amongst both the operating team and our friends. For more details of the locomotive’s construction and history please see the table at the end of this article.

The locomotive is powered by a diesel engine and therefore receives many positive comments about it ‘sounding right’. It is not a Bo-Bo but rather I think should be correctly

described as a 2-B the equivalent of a 4-4-0 in steam locomotive terms. The rear four wheels are fixed to the main chassis and not contained in a bogie. There is some lateral play on the axles to take up the movement necessary on some of the sharper curves. Remarkably, the locomotive has not required much in the way of modification during the 5 years of service. Only two modifications or replacements have been necessary. The first is that the axles have had spacers fitted to keep the wheels fully to

gauge as there was found to be some movement of the wheels on the axles due to the fixed nature of the rear ‘driving’ wheels. Secondly, the radiator had to be replaced in 2009 as the old one was found to be badly rusted. Incidentally, the position of the radiator, just below and behind the driver’s seat, provides the driver with a ‘heated seat’, much appreciated in the early and late season, but it can be a little warm in the summer.

Photo by. jamuna Waldron

 

Steelmaster was sent on a short loan to the Ferry Meadows Miniature Railway towards the end of 2009 with the possibility of them acquiring the locomotive. However due to the different nature of the operations at Ferry Meadows, much heavier trains and steeper gradients than at Kirkby Green Steelmaster was found inappropriate for their operation and after a short while returned to Kirkby Green where it continue to perform quite adequately for that railway’s purposes. The locomotive has always been painted in BR Blue livery with full yellow ends and a large BR logo on either side. The exhaust currently points downwards but originally exhausted upwards through the grill giving a prototype effect but causing problems with passengers in the leading coach.

The Class 66 – Keal Carrier

Gavin’s second attempt at building a locomotive is much more to scale than the 37. The Class 66 66510 ‘The Keal Carrier’ is pretty much to scale length, width and height, which means that the mechanical components of the locomotive are not so squeezed into the available space. This has meant that the driver is also seated much lower in the bodywork and the whole locomotive presents a much more scale appearance.

The locomotive was constructed over the period 2008 – 2010 and made its debut at Kirkby Green in May 2010. It has seen service at Kirkby Green in both the 2010 and 2011 seasons and so far has given no trouble.
Mechanically it is similar to Steelmaster but has a Hydraulic Transmission rather than the Hydrostatic transmission found in the 37. Once again, further details of the locomotive can be found in the table at the end of this article.

The locomotive is powered by a diesel engine of the same type found in Steelmaster and is a B-B. Unfortunately, it is not the Co-Co wheel arrangement that it should be but six wheel bogies would not allow sufficient room for the hydraulic equipment to be fitted to the bogie.

The fact that it is a B-B does not seem to detract from the locomotive’s abilities or significantly either from its appearance.

Keal Carrier is painted in Freightliner green with full yellow ends and replicas of the freightliner logo on either side. The locomotive is numbered 66510 as an indication that it entered service in May 2010.

 

 

The locomotives are in regular service at the Kirkby Green Light Railway and both can be seen on our operating days during the period from Easter to the end of September each year.

All photos except where otherwise credited are the property of Gavin Motley.

 Table of Dimensions and History

	Class 37	Class 66
	No 37501 Teesside Steelmaster	No 66510 The Keal Carrier
Built	2005 -2006 Entered service in May 2006	2008 -2010 Entered Service in May 2010
Wheel Arrangement	2-B	B-B
Size of Wheels dia	8.5”	8.5”
Wheelbase	Bogie centres 5’ 6” Bogie Wheelbase 12”	Bogie centres 12’ 0” Bogie Wheelbase 20”
Overall Length	7’ 10”	15’ 6”
Width	22.5”	22.5”
Height	3’ 2”	2’ 10”
Weight	1000 KG approx	760 KG
Power Unit	Kubota 2cyl 11hp	Kubota 2cyl 11hp
Transmission	1980 Eaton Hydrostatic from Jacobson Turf King triple Mower	1985 Hydraulic from Ride-on Green King Lawn Mower
Modifications: Date and Type	2006/7 – Spacers to axles
	2009 – New Radiator
Timeline	2006 – 2009 KGLR	2010 – 2011 KGLR
	2009 Visit to Ferry Meadows Miniature Railway
	2010 – 2011 KGLR

Sketches made During Construction

Class 37

Class 66