Former Motive Power
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Former Motive Power
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The BBR has been host to locomotives which have operated on the railway and then been sold or moved on to other locations "Golden Ridge" 0-4-0T Freudenstein 0-4-0WT Builders No. 217. built 1905
There were only a small number of Freudenstein locomotives ever built and therefore they were not a common sight in Australia. Two 1ft 18 inch gauge 0-4-0WT locomotives were purchased by the Golden Ridge Goldmine N.L. one in 1904 and the other in 1905. They saw minimal use at the mine as the company soon fell into financial difficulties. Later they were purchased by the Western Machinery Company of Kalgoorlie and were put into storage. No. 175 eventually ended up with W.A. branch of the Australian Railway Historical Society and is on display at their Bassendean Museum. No.217 was eventually sold to a private owner in Kalgoorlie and languished in the back of a property where it was eventually noticed by Mr Keith Watson who duly enquired of the owner as to what he may be going to do with it. The question was asked "Could I buy it" I want to restore it to working order. The return answer being "No". Keith saw potential in the design and later built a scale model to operate on the 7& 1/4 inch track at the Castledare Boys Home. The owner of 217 eventually saw an article published about Mr Watson and his model locomotive and decided that the real thing would be better off with Keith. The locomotive was put into a railway wagon and shipped to Perth where it was later restored to working order by Keith and a small band of friends. As it was originally 1ft 8 inch gauge, suitable modifications were made and the wheels were moved out to 2ft gauge to enable it to operate on the BBR. Upon finishing the restoration, "Golden Ridge" was the name Keith bestowed on the locomotive.
It arrived on the BBR in March 1989 and following some trials commenced regular passenger running on the 12th of August WALRPA had a long association with Keith, and his locomotive was used regularly on the BBR until 1993 when it was sold to an interested buyer in NSW
"Big Fowler"
During the late 80's early 90's BBR also had a "Big Fowler" Traction Engine in its care. This road locomotive came to reside in Whiteman Park after its carer Ian Willis had taken it to East Perth railway station for the arrival of Flying Scotsman in 1989 and then allowed it to be stored at BBR and used by the railway as an attraction.
It was later purchased by the WA Museum and became part of the "Wheels Collection" of road vehicles and it was moved into the city museum at Francis st.
After a number of years it returned Whiteman Park and into the care of the Tracmac group where it can be found today - It once again became an attraction for BBR when it was steamed and driven to Mussel Pool to attend our Friends of Thomas day on 21/05/2006. Unfortunately today it is no longer steamable due to boiler issues.
"Annie" 0-4-2T Further information required for Annie Winter 1990 saw Keith Watson's "Golden Ridge" & P Ledgerwood's "Annie" in use. Annie was a replica locomotive built by by Keith Watson and Peter Ledgerwood after they had restored Golden Ridge to working order.
Built along similar principles used to restore Golden Ridge, Annie was built using a miniature railway style Briggs boiler but instead of being coal fired it was set up as an "oil" fired boiler. In most cases it was run on diesel fuel and on most days would chew through more fuel than our largest diesel powered locomotive, making it very expensive to operate, particularly as it could only haul 3 of the small stock coaches.
" Annie" was on the railway until 1999 when Peter sold it to a german group and the locomotive left W.A.
"Pheonix" Another replica style locomotive built by Keith Watson named Phoenix was trialled on BBR rails but was only ever a visitor for the trial. Further information required
Bennett Brook Railway has certainly had far more variation in its operating locomotive fleet than many other preserved railways in WA.
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Bennett Brook Railway Webmaster N. Blinco
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