Seeking Kitson Taff Vale-esk 0-6-0 Wks No 2451

[kwallace6]

August will be the 150th Anniversary of the introduction of the ‘Ironclad’ Kitson 4’6” 0-6-0 goods engine on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, and which we know better as the Taff Vale L class.

Seven of these locomotives were ordered for the Railway Contractors building the standard gauge railways north and south of Sydney. These were bought over time, and some were taken directly from a hot production line for either the L class or L&YR Ironclad. They are fascinating ‘hybrids’, sporting both TV and L&Y features.

But there is a mystery regarding Kitson Works Number K/2445, and its replacement K/2451. K/2445 was intended to be TVR #3, but went to Australia, and K/2451 replaced it, and so became TVR #3. However, according to my Australian correspondents, John Browning and Jon Henry, there is no evidence of K/2451 arriving in Australia, despite their exhaustive research.

I’ve now seen the Kitson records held by the Stephenson Locomotive Society in Bristol and the National Railway Museum in York, and I have tracked down the ex-Armley Mills (Leeds Industrial Museum) materials on loan to Statford Barn, but wasn’t able to actually look at them on Saturday as I was on a ‘guided tour’ (so ‘guided away’ from what I wanted to see!).

The Kitson records seen for K/2451 are either blank, clearly amended and/or at variance with the tables on page K158 in the RCTS Part 10 GWR Absorbed Locos book. The possibilities are a) it was built but not shipped b) built and lost at sea c) arrived in Australia but not recorded/reported or d) wasn’t built. I have The Railway Magazine September 2007 issue in which Mike Hudson and Philip Atkins published their comprehensive research on locos lost at sea but there is nothing obvious.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what might have happened to K/2451?