These are all the locomotives we use regularly:
Conway Castle
Built in 1972 by Fenlow Engineering, Conway Castle was supplied to a new seaside railway at Prestatyn in North Wales.
The Prestatyn railway closed in the late 1970s and was relocated to Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire. After a few years this railway moved again to the Suffolk Wildlife Park at Kessingland, where Conway Castle stayed until the early 1990s.
In 1992 Conway Castle and the rest of the Kessingland railway moved to Watford. Following a rebuild in the mid 1990s Conway Castle has been our main diesel locomotive.
Nikki Louise
An 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic locomotive, Nikki Louise was built brand new by R. Prime for the Suffolk Wildlife Park in 1988. When this railway closed she moved to Watford with Conway Castle, where she was subject to an extensive rebuild before coming into use in the late 1990s.
Densil
A steam outline diesel hydraulic locomotive built in 1998 by Alan Keef. Densil was built for the Wells Harbour Railway in Norfolk and spent over 20 years here. In the autumn of 2021 the Wells Harbour Railway closed and was dismantled and moved to Cornwall; with Densil surplus to the new owner’s requirements he arrived with us in December 2021.
Marri
A 2-6-0 Baldwin style steam locomotive, built by Willis Light Engineering of Perth, Australia in 1993. She was imported especially for use at Watford and ran for 10 years, before being withdrawn for an overhaul. After completion of this long running overhaul, she entered service again in April 2018.
Chiltern Shuttle
An 0-6-0 American ‘Switcher’ style locomotive. Built in 1946 by R.H. Morse as 9½” gauge, she arrived at Watford in the early 1980s when she was rebuilt to our 10¼” gauge. Her small size hides the fact she packs quite a punch and can pull a full set of 10 coaches! An extensive restoration to “as new” condition was completed in November 2021.
Evelyn
A 2-6-4 steam locomotive built by Brian Elliott and Roger Cockfield in 2015.
Evelyn is modelled on ‘Mountaineer‘, a locomotive on the Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales. The full size Mountaineer was one of a type built by the American Locomotive Co. for use on the British War Department Light Railways.
Although finished in 2015, Evelyn was unused until we bought her in 2023, and arrived in ‘as new’ condition.
Evelyn is named after the owner’s grandmother.
Other Locomotives
There are other locomotives which we own but are not currently in regular use at Watford.
A full list of locomotives in our collection is available here