Ready-to-run narrow gauge is flourishing. MIKE WILD reviews one of the second batch of Heljan Lynton and Barnstaple Railway 2-6-2Ts for ‘OO9’.
Narrow gauge locomotives tend to have a small and dainty feel to them, but the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway’s (LBR) Manning Wardle 2-6-2Ts were nothing of the sort. For 2ft gauge locomotives, these were chunky machines designed to work the fearsome 1-in-50 ruling gradient of the twisting route around Exmoor to reach the terminus high above the coastal town of Lynton.
Three were built by Manning Wardle originally, with a fourth following in 1925. They featured long side tanks, a fully enclosed cab, outside frames, guards over the motion and a free steaming boiler fit for working the route. All were named after local rivers with the original three called Yeo, Exe and Taw. The fourth was named Lew and there was also a Baldwin built 2-4-2T named Lyn operating on the railway.
THE MODEL
Ready-to-run models of the famed LBR have long been sought after and Peco has been delivering a steady stream of carriages and wagons from the railway. The first small batches of Heljan’s Manning Wardle 2-6-2T arrived in April 2017, but at that time we didn’t have chance to look over what is clearly an exqu…
