Locomotives

Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 1981 by Baguley-Drewry
Name: John H Bowles
Use Today: Passenger Trains
Original Location: RNAD Trecwn, Wales

This locomotive marks the later evolution of RNAD Depot narrow‑gauge diesel design when compared to Tinkabell. Delivered new in 1981 to Royal Naval Armament Depot Trecwn, Wales as A4 and subsequently renumbered to TO-004-00-NZ-29 in 1984.

Transferred to RNAD Dean Hill in 1994 along with several others when new 100hp Baguley locomotives introduced at Trecwn, and renumbered as DH8-88.

Dean Hill closed in 2004 and most of the railway stock was sold off with only DH8-87 and DH8-88 remaining in use at Dean Hill during its decommissioning. DH8-88 then transferred to the Gunpowder Railway in 2009.

This locomotive is available in 009 scale model form made by Bachmann.

Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 1979 by Hunslet
Name: Gilbert
Use Today: Passenger Trains (Backup locomotive)
Original Location: NCB Nantgarw Colliery, Wales

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 where it was re-gauged to 2 feet..

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 an air-braking system along with being regauged to 2 feet 6 inches (762mm).

The locomotive transferred to the Gunpowder Railway in December 2021.

Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 1979 by Hunslet
Name: Chris H / Number 4
Use Today: Works Trains
Original Location: ROF Bishopton, Scotland

Delivered new to Royal Ordnance Factory, Bishopton, Renfrewshire as Number 4. ROF Bishopton was a massive, top-secret Ministry of Supply explosives factory built during World War II to manufacture cordite propellant for the British military replacing the Gunpowder Mills in Waltham Abbey. Because cordite is highly volatile, safety was paramount. Buildings were spaced far apart across 890 acres of land to isolate accidental explosions and an 80-mile railway was built to move materials about.

In 1979 the factory brought in a number of custom-built Hunslet 4wDH locomotives to modernize the fleet an initial batch of 6 and 8828 was number 4 of the 6. A further batch of 6 number 7-12 was delivered in 1980. Operating at Bishopton until 1990 when it suffered a catastrophic engine fire taking it out of service. It was left out of use at Bishopton before being transferred to Shoeburyness MOD site in 1994 and subsequently receiving a new engine.

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.

Of the original Bishopton Hunslets – 10 of the 12 locomotives are known to survive although most are not operational.

Status: UNDER RESTORATION
Built: 1979 by Hunslet
Name: Betsy / Number 5
Use Today: Visiting Locomotive
Original Location: ROF Bishopton, Scotland

This is the sister locomotive to Chris H, and is number 5 from the original batch of 6 identical Hunslets delivered in 1979 to ROF Bishopton in Scotland.

It continued in use there until the site closed in 2002 and was then sold into a private collection. It has recently changed ownership but remains privately owned and is at the Gunpowder Railway while it goes through a restoration back to operational condition.

Watch the first attempt at starting the locomotive on YouTube with Mr Hewes.

Number 5 offers a rare chance to see a locomotive in original ROF Bishopton livery, within the Railway Works.

Status: UNDER RESTORATION
Built: 1984 by Hunslet
Name: “15”
Proposed Use: Passenger Trains
Original Location: ROF Bishopton, Scotland

In 1984 production of Cordite as ROF Bishopton was at its peak and there was the need for additional, more powerful Hunslet locomotives to compliment those already on site. An order was placed for 4 more – 2 to CAT.C specification (this means fireproofed) numbers “13” and “14” and 2 simply more powerful bulkier locomotives – numbers “15” and “16”.

These locomotives operated until Bishopton closed in 2002 and were then sold – this one, along with number “16” went into a private collection and has been in a barn out of use for over 20 years.

It arrived at the Gunpowder Railway in September 2026 and will be restored to fully working order and its livery repainted with the aim for it to be in passenger service in 2027.

Status: OPERATIONAL (having repaint)
Built: 1956 by Ruston & Hornsby
Name: Tinkabell
Use Today: Special Request Passenger Trains
Original Location: RNSD Copenacre

Built by Ruston and Hornsby of Lincoln, UK and ordered new by the MoD for RNSD Copenacre, part of the CAD Corsham underground complex to complement their existing Ruston 16/20 locomotives from the 1930’s. Worked entirely underground, moving munitions and naval stores through a 125 acre tunnel network.

This is the super rare 3-cylinder, 3-speed variant of the Ruston LBU less than a dozen were ever manufactured and this is believed to be the last one remaining. Unlike deep, cramped coal mines that strictly required slow, high-torque hauling, the tunnels at RNSD Copenacre were expansive, well-maintained, and concrete-lined. The MoD needed a locomotive that could safely haul ammunition at low speeds, but also shift into a third “cruising” gear to shuffle empty wagons quickly across the vast site.

Tinkabell became surplus to requirements in 1982 and then entered private hands. It initially worked at a stone and concrete quarry in Somerset before being placed into long-term storage.

Arrived at Waltham Abbey for use on the Gunpowder Railway in April 2026 and went through two months of mechanical restoration now receiving a cosmetic refurbishment.

Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 1969 as a G100 H/VW
Name: Il Tuono Blu / The Blue Thunder
Use Today: Stock Moves
Original Location: Rome, Italy

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.

Status: OPERATIONAL
Built: 2026
Use Today: Track Inspection
Original Location: RGM Waltham Abbey

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 2-foot 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 was recreated.

Status: AWAITING RESTORATION
Built: 1964
Name: Number 11
Original Location: Rumst Brickworks in Belgium

The locomotive was built by the Belgian firm Moës of Waremme however it was a recycled locomotive as the BL frames were originally made in 1936 and it was refurbished with a new Deutz engine in 1964 as part of an order for additional locomotives for Rumst.

Moës No. 11 is one of a group of around 30 industrial narrow-gauge diesel locomotives that spent their working lives at the near 100 different brickworks of Rumst, in Belgium’s historic Rupel district working the extensive internal 750mm narrow-gauge railway that was originally worked by horses until the 1930s. It was used to carried clay from the pits to the main brickworks. Following the decline of the Belgian brick industry the railway was no longer required with trucks taking over, ten Rumst Moës locomotives are known to have survived into preservation and eight were imported to the UK. Today No. 11 represents a surviving example of the rugged industrial locomotives that once played a vital role in one of Belgium’s most important brickmaking regions.

It arrived at the Gunpowder Railway in September 2026 and will be restored to fully working order and its livery repainted sometime during 2027.

Status: STATIC DISPLAY
Built: 1964 by Greenwood and Batley
Name: BB307
Original Location:  Safety in Mines Research Station (formerly RAF Harpur Hill) Buxton

This locomotive is completely unique. Greenwood and Batley only made battery electric locomotives. They made 1367 of them. However, they were commissioned to make one Diesel Electric locomotive – and this is it.

BB307 is uniquely powered by a Ruston 6YDA 84hp diesel engine which is then used to generate electricity to power the vehicle and its associated train. This locomotive did not operate on its own, it was part of a 3 vehicle train used specifically for research into the risk and impact of underground explosions within a mine!

The locomotive is currently not visible within the Railway Works – it is stored a short distance away. The longer-term aim is to cosmetically restore and preserve the locomotive and its associated vehicles (1 of the 2 is on-site) and place this on static display adjacent to the Railway Works staff car-park on a section of 3-foot railway. If you can help us with this we’d be hugely grateful.

Status: STATIC DISPLAY
Built: 1941 (2024 replica – original does not survive)
Name: Stuart J
Original Location: RGM Waltham Abbey

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 14 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 when the railway fell into disuse.

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.