Baguley 774 en-route for the shed behind Ruston LBT 15
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Picture by Peter Bell
Baguley No. 774
Between February and April 1919 Baguley (Cars) Ltd built six 2ft-gauge petrol locomotives for the Board of Trade
to be used on timber camp railways in various parts of the country. The design was by McEwan Pratt, and these were the
first locomotives built by Baguley. They were given works numbers 774 - 779. These locomotives were ancestors of the later
steam locomotives built by Baguleys after 1929.
774 was delivered to Machynlleth
in March 1919, and is believed to have worked on the Hendre-Ddu Tramway at Aberangell, Montgomeryshire. It is also
possible that she worked for a time on a forestry line at Pennal.
She was repurchased by Baguley in 1923 and exhibited at the Commercial Motor Show, London, being given a special display
livery which she carried until recent times. In 1924 she was shown on the Drewery stand at the British Empire Exhibition at
Wembley. In January 1927 she was sold to the Oakley Slate Quarries in Blaenau Ffestiniog, where she worked until 1939 as
Clifford.
She was stored, walled-up, in a disused slate mill until 1966, when Rodney Weaver bought her for preservation.
She was moved to Brian Goodchild's railway at Leamington Spa in 1968, before being sold to R.P. Morris in 1970.
She was moved to Bampton, Oxfordshire in 1973, and then to Longfield, Kent, before returning to Wales in 1977.
She became part of the Narrow Gauge Railway Centre display at Gloddfa Ganol Mountain Tourist Centre, Blaenau Ffestiniog.
In February 1998 she was purchased by the NGRM Trust of the Talyllyn Railway at Tywyn when the Gloddfa Ganol Centre closed.
This locomotive is of interest as a loco with Welsh connections, having worked on forestry lines and in the slate industry,
and as a historic early internal combustion loco in her own right. After a thorough examination and assessment of the
degree of restoration possible, 774 left for transport to Amerton on 21.06.03, on loan to SNGRS for cosmetic
restoration. The pictures below show the ongoing cosmetic restoration in July 2005. Upon completion of the cosmetic
restoration, the locomotive will be returned to Tywyn for display in the new museum building.
Dismantled before cosmetic restoration
Shot blasting
Painted
The following photographs show the progress with cosmetic restoration in May 2006.
Ready for replacement of wheelsets
Gordon shunts 774 around onto the pit road for replacement of the wheelsets
