Isle of Man Railway Locomotives - Idiosyncrasies

Idiosyncrasies

Whilst all from the same manufacturer broadly to the same design, the Beyer, Peacocks all have slight differences; for example, the first trio have their nameplates mounted forward of the injector feed pipe, whereas Nos. 4 and 5 are central, meaning the name plates unusually read "LO CH" and "MO NA", there being a gap where the pipe passes through! All Isle of Man Railway locomotives were supplied with brass chimney numerals, whilst the ex-MNR engines received them following the 1905 merger. Today No. 10 does not carry any chimney numerals, and No. 15 lost hers when her identity was returned to Manx Northern Railway No. 4 in 2007; when originally returned to traffic in 1995 she carried both numbers at once! In 1946 Beyer Peacock supplied three boilers with new cast iron chimneys which were not fitted with numerals. These boilers were fitted to Nos. 5, 10, and 12, which lost their chimney numerals as a result. It was at this point that No. 5 and No. 12 gained small tank side number plates. 12 lost hers again when reboilered in 1981. Over the years, the water tanks of each loco were patched when they leaked, resulting in each one being distinctive by their pattern of patches; this is not noticeable today as the tanks are welded and the rivets are only dummies for aesthetic purposes. No. 6 Peveril in the museum does however retain her patched tanks. There are several other differences for the die-hard enthusiast, such as the grab rail on the back of No.5's cab is of a different style to all the others, No. 11 has a brass safety valve bonnet (at one time carried by No. 13 have been recycled from a pre-1939 boiler fitted to No.13 prior to her 1971 reboilering), No. 4 features fleet number and three legs of man in brass on the buffer beam, etc., etc.