Accucraft “W&L Hunslet No. 14” MANUAL CONTROL Operating Instructions Manual - A Bit Of History
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A Bit of History
Built in 1954, No. 85 was the last of 32 built for the Sierra Leone
Government Railways to a standard design by Hunslet. Completed as
works number 3815, No. 85 was delivered to the Sierra Leone port and
capital of Freetown with sister engine No. 84, the pair costing £21,273.
They were set to work on the extensive Sierra Leone Railway, which had a
mainline extending 227.5 miles. No details of the livery of the early
engines have survived, but 43-47 are recorded as "painted Gorton green and
lined out in black and chrome". Nos. 81 to 85, however, were painted black
By the time No. 85 arrived, the Hunslet 2-6-2s were confined mainly to
shunting and banking heavy trains out of Freetown. Their working life was
to be short too – with the Sierra Leone Government Railways finally
closing in 1974. No. 85 was brought back to the UK to work at the
preserved Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway, where it regularly hauled
passenger trains until April 2010, when its last 10-year boiler ticket
expired. It has recently been on display at the National Railway Museum at
Shildon. Photo courtesy of T.A.C.’Tac’Foley.