Steeple Grange Light Railway: Derbyshire tourist attraction volunteer reunited with locomotive after over 60 years

Gerald Atkinson, a volunteer at the Steeple Grange Light Railway, has been reunited with an industrial railtruck he first rode on as a child 63 years ago.

Gerald, who only moved to Derbyshire 10 years ago, first saw the locomotive in West Sussex, where he grew up.

He used to accompany his dad to Keymer Brickworks and ride the new railtruck, which was manufactured in 1962 at Dursley in Gloucestershire.

Commenting on the reunion, Geraldsaid: “It’s quite exciting because it’s a part of my young childhood.

"My dad knew the manager up there and I think they had connection through the local church.

"They used to go out and discuss church business on a Saturday morning and I used to get sent off to go and ride on the 18-inch railway line there.”

Throughout his life, Gerald moved across the country having various jobs including working in engineering, becoming a technology teacher, working in the model trade and for many years was a naval reservist.

But the passion for trains was something that stayed with him through his life and Gerald has rode many steam engines over the years.

Despite his extensive experience with locomotives, the reunion with the 1962 railtruck was quite an emotional experience for Gerald.

He explained: "I’ve driven bigger engines including mainline steam engines on other heritage railways but this is quite a throwback.

"It’s not the easiest thing to drive and usually its got a semi hydraulic gearbox on it rather than mechanical one that it was first supplied with.

"It can be a bit recalcitrant at times but we’re getting on with it.”

The locomotive has had a long journey to Derbyshire since it was produced in 1962 – travelling across the country just like Gerald.

After it was no longer used by Keymer Brickworks, the railtruck was sold hoard lines and was used to as a rope haulage.

It was later sold on to a dealer in the East end of London, and was bought by paintworks in North Cumbria.

After the paintworks closed down the locomotive was sold on to Wales, where some restoration works were carried out, but they were never finished.

The, originally been fitted with a JAP engine that was soon replaced by a Lister two cylinder, was unused for around 30 years before it was acquired by Steeple Grange Light Railway from a quarry in North Wales.

When it arrived in Derbyshire, the railtruck had its engine seized up and no longer in working order – but Steeple Grange volunteers worked hard to breathe new life into the 64-year-old locomotive.

Gerald said: “It had not been touched in 30 years and then within about three weeks of arriving here we actually had it running!

“It was quite amusing at first because we cranked the engine in the wrong way and it started – except it completely filled up the workshop with exhaust fumes.

"We shortly worked out what was wrong and re-cranked it up going in the right direction and it’s run fairly smoothly ever since.

“The engine we used was originally meant to be for spares, but we found it worked well so we put it on here and we are partway through rebuilding the engine it arrived with.”

The 1962 railtruck is one of many historic locomotives and wagons under the care of Steeple Grange Light Railway – a narrow gauge heritage industrial railway located near Wirksworth.

The popular tourist attraction, which was launched in 1985, is open on Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from April until late September.

Steeple Grange Light Railway is fully run by volunteers and any train enthusiasts who wish to join the team can find out more via email at [email protected].