A brand new loco!

On our way home from the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society's members' day at the North Norfolk Railway last month Joy and I popped into Wells-next-the-Sea for a bite to eat by the harbour and half way through my sandwich the sound of a diesel horn drew my attention to this…

Alan Keef Ltd 0-6-0DH THE DUKE approaches the Harbour station on the Wells Harbour Railway, 5/10/14

The Wells Harbour Railway is a 10.25in gauge line linking the harbour (where else?) with the Pinewoods Holiday Park at the seaward end of the line, a distance of roughly 1200 yards.

Although I'd seen the line in operation before I hadn't seen this particular loco and a closer inspection revealed that it had been built this year by Alan Keef Ltd of Ross-on-Wye.

Alan Keef Ltd 0-6-0DH THE DUKE stands at the Harbour station on the Wells Harbour Railway, 5/10/14

Alan Keef Ltd works plate on 10.25in gauge 0-6-0DH THE DUKE on the Wells Harbour Railway, 5/10/14

An 0-6-0DH (diesel engine, hydraulic transmission) 'THE DUKE' is the third loco to be built by Alan Keef Ltd for the WHR (DENSIL b.1998 and HOWARD b.2005 are the others) and is the first that hasn't been made to resemble a steam engine.

Alan Keef Ltd steam outline 0-6-0DH HOWARD (complete with dummy saddle tank and chimney) arrives at the Harbour station on the Wells Harbour Railway, 9/7/10