Locomotive Rolling Stock at the Gunpowder Railway
There are no full steam locomotives present as historically, steam, sparks and fire plus gunpowder are not the best combination. However, there is a static sectioned steam boiler to explore within the Display Yard at the Railway Works. Most of our locomotives have names – you can find out about their origins.
Our current operational rolling stock is all diesel based.
Baguley-Drewry 4wDH no. 3755
Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 1981
Name: John H Bowles
Use Today: Passenger Trains
Delivered new to Royal Naval Armament Depot Trecwn, Wales as A4. Renumbered to TO-004-00-NZ-29 in 1984.
Transferred to RNAD Dean Hill in late 1980’s when new 100hp Baguley locomotives introduced at Trecwn, and renumbered DH8-88.
Dean Hill closed in 2004 and most of the railway stock was sold off with only DH8-87 and DH8-88 remaining at Dean Hill. DH8-88 then transferred to the Gunpowder Railway in 2009.
This locomotive is available in 009 scale model form made by Bachmann.
Hunslet 4wDM no. 8819
Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 1979
Name: Gilbert
Use Today: Passenger Trains (Backup locomotive)
Delivered new to the National Coal Board and used at Nantgarw Colliery, South Wales. The locomotive was originally 3 feet (914mm) gauge as built. The colliery closed 1986 and sometime after the locomotive ended up at at Bressingham Gardens and Steam Museum, Norfolk.
The locomotive was subsequently fully overhauled at Statfold Barn Museum, including fitting of a new 65hp Kubota Diesel engine along with modified coupling heights and air-braking system and regauged to 2 feet 6 inches (762mm).
The locomotive transferred to the Gunpowder Railway in December 2021.
Hunslet 4wDH no. 8828
Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 1979
Name: Chris H
Use Today: Works Trains
Delivered new to Royal Ordnance Factory, Bishopton, Renfrewshire as Bishopton No. 4. Stored on site when factory closed in 1992 and was then transferred to Shoeburyness MOD site in 1994.
Arrived at the Gunpowder Railway in an un-restored, non-operational condition in 2003 and was the first locomotive on-site. Restored to operation by 2007.
Ruhrthaler 4wDH no. 3920
Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 1969 as a G100 H/VW
Name: Il Tuono Blu / The Blue Thunder
Use Today: Stock Moves
Built by Ruhrthaler Maschinenfabrik of Mülheim, Germany and delivered new on 28th November 1969 to S.A. Costruzione per Opere Pubbliche, (SACOP) Rome as a standard two cab mining/tunneling locomotive for use on the construction of Rome Metro Line ‘A’ tunnels between 1969 and 1980.
Imported to UK in 1994 by contractor J. F. Donelon & Co of Horwich (later Amey Donelon) for use on a tunneling project in Bristol. Then at an unknown date the original coupling units were removed then replaced and one cab was also removed along with the roof of the other cab.
Arrived at Waltham Abbey for use on the Gunpowder Railway on 13th September 2007 in an unservicable and failed condition and so placed into long term storage for 17 years!
Between January and August 2024 the locomotive was completely overhauled, rebuilt and returned to operating condition and fully refurbished externally.
Wickham Trolley 4wDM
Status: NEW BUILD IN PROGRESS
Building: 2025-2026
Wickham trolleys were lightweight railway inspection and maintenance vehicles built in Ware, Hertfordshire by D. Wickham & Co., a long‑established engineering firm that introduced its first rail trolley in 1922 and continued production until 1990.
Although best known for standard‑gauge personnel carriers, the company also produced a number of narrow‑gauge variants, including rare examples built to 2‑ft and 2‑ft‑6‑in gauges for military and industrial use. One documented narrow‑gauge example was built in 1938 for military service, later preserved after its use at Lydd in Kent.
Given the closeness of Ware to the Waltham Abbey site of the Gunpowder Railway a new-build example of these rare narrow gauge military variants is currently under construction.
Greenwood and Batley 4wBE (Battery) no. 1671
Status: STATIC DISPLAY
Built: 1940 (2024 replica – original does not survive)
Name: Stuart J
In 1940 and 1941 the Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills placed orders with the pre-eminent Battery Electric Locomotive manufacturer in Britain, Greenwood and Batley of Leeds, for ten new machines to cope with the increased production on the site. Power was provided by a 5hp 40volt motor which ran off NIFE batteries.
Sadly they did not have a very long service life, as when the Mills changed from being a production plant to a Research and Development facility in 1945, their usage dwindled, and the last sections closed in 1954, with all of the locomotives being scrapped soon afterwards.
This static full size replica was constructed by the Gunpowder Railway Volunteer Team between December 2023 and July 2024 both to commemorate the locomotives used on the site and to demonstrate the size difference between the original 18 inch gauge rolling stock and the current 2’6” gauge equipment used by the Gunpowder Railway.
Vulcan Foundry 0-4-2 no. 1160
Status: STATIC DISPLAY
Built: 1885
Name: Mars
Only the boiler survives of this unusual Vulcan Foundry 0-4-2 creation originally for Woolwich Arsenal’s 18″ gauge railway. It was originally sectioned at the Longmoor Military Railway for training purposes before going to Shildon then eventually joining the Gunpowder Railway as an educational piece.
The Vulcan Foundry was established in 1830 in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, by Charles Tayleur and became a major constructor of steam, diesel, and electric locomotives, with a total of 6,210 units produced.
Note – steam locomotives never operated at the Royal Gunpowder Mills.
Ruston & Hornsby 4wDM no. 32524
Status: STORED IN PARTS
Built: 1945
Locomotive was originally delivered new to Ministry of Supply and was built to a gauge of 2 feet. In January 1959 was sold to Fairy Glen Miniature Railway and re-gauged to 18 inches. It was then sold on again in 1965, placed into storage and changed hands several more times.
At sometime after 1974 the engine and transmission were removed and the locomotive received a mock ‘steam outline’ body before being used as a static exhibit as part of the Bicton Woodland Railway.
In 1999 the locomotive was sold to Royal Gunpowder Mills in kit form as part of the disposal by Bicton of former Royal Arsenal stock from Woolwich. It is currently stored awaiting major re-gauging, installation of a new engine and transmission, plus a reconstruction of a ‘heritage’ style body.