Sgt Murphy
| Sgt Murphy | |
|---|---|
 At Harbour Station, 1995. Photo: Dan Crow | |
| Type | Kerr Stuart 'Haig' (modified) |
| Home Railway | Teifi Valley Rly. |
| Original Railway | Admiralty, Beachley Dock |
| History | |
| Built by | Kerr Stuart |
| Built | 1918 |
| Technical | |
| Wheel Arrangement | 0-6-2T (Originally 0-6-0T) |
| Locomotives | |
Sgt Murphy was a Kerr Stuart 0-6-0T (3117 of 1918), one of the 'Haig' type. This was a simplified version of the 'Joffre' type supplied by Kerr Stuart to the French Army, based on a Decauville design. It was originally used by the Admiralty at Beachley Dock at Chepstow, Monmouthshire until being sold to dealer A. H. Richards of Chepstow. It was acquired from Richards in 1921 by Penrhyn Quarry[1].
In 1932 Sgt. Murphy overturned in the quarry, killing its driver. It was rebuilt at the quarry's Coed y Parc workshops with the boiler lowered by more than 7 inches. It received a new firebox in May 1938 and new side tanks in 1945. In January 1955 it was officially noted as "scrapped" and left in the scrap line at Coed y Parc.
Sgt. Murphy was purchased by Messrs Pealling and Weaver and moved to Staffordshire in 1964. It was at Teddy Boston's Cadeby Rectory by 1976. In 1977 it arrived at the Betws-y-Coed Railway Museum. At the end of 1991 it went to Winson Engineering at Penrhyndeudraeth, where it was rebuilt as a 0-6-2T. By now in the ownership of the then General Manager Gordon Rushton it arrived on the FR in 1993.[video 1]
While on the Festiniog, it received the FR crest and featured in a number of events including the 1993 Hunslet Hundred gala. For an account of its rebuilding and use on the FR see Chapter 8 of the book "I Tried to Run a Little Railway" by Gordon Rushton[2]
In July 1996 it was moved to the Teifi Valley Railway.[3] In the January 2021 Railway Magazine there was an appeal for volunteers to help return Sgt. Murphy to steam on the TVR. It had last been steamed in 2013.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Boyd, James I.C. (1985). Narrow Gauge Railways in North Caernarvonshire (Vol2) The Penrhyn Quarry Railway. Oxford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-312-5. OCLC 14641020.
- ^ Rushton G (2017) I Tried to Run a Little Railway: Managing the Ffestiniog Railway 1991 - 1996, Adlestrop Press, 15 Rycroft, Furzton, Milton Keynes, MK4 1AH, UK pages 125 - 164.
- ^ Bradley, Vic (1993) [1992]. Industrial Locomotives of North Wales. London: Industrial Railway Society. ISBN 0-9010-9672-5. OCLC 27769657.