Cornish Steam Locomotive
Preservation Society
"Alfred" Bagnall
0-4-0 ST No 3058 Built 1953
Alfred
was built in 1953 for the “Port of Par”; she was delivered to replace “Punch”, a
vertical boilered Sentinal, which was scrapped in 1944. Alfred is of very
similar design to “Judy” (named with Punch and Judy in mind), the only
significant differences were in the tank, Judy had a riveted tank whereas
Alfred’s is welded, also Judy’s bunkers are riveted and Alfred has rolled
bunkers. Upon delivery, Alfred was due to be named Punch (i.e. …and Judy),
however this was also the week that the long serving harbour master was
retiring, his name was Alfred, so the engine was named in his honour.
Alfred and Judy are “cut down”; their work was to transport wagons of china clay around the Par docks, the dries that the clay was processed in was on the far side of the Paddington-Penzance mainline from the docks. The docks line went under the mainline with a low bridge, so these two engines were specially built to make this job possible. When coupled to clay wagons it is easy to see the significance of the size of the two engines, the roof and the top of the wagons being set at the same height.
In 1978 Alfred finished work at Par Docks, and went on permanent loan to the Cornish Steam Locomotive Preservation Society (CSLPS), based at Bugle Steam Railway at that point, from there the CSLPS moved to Bodmin, where she still resides. Except for a repaint and a tank renewal Alfred has had very little time out of service. This engine is a very good training engine, many a young trainee fireman have learnt the ropes on this engine when shunting in the yard at Bodmin.
Quite possibly the most famous engines on the railway, Alfred and Judy were to be an inspiration to the Reverend W. Awdry, the author of the Thomas the Tank Engine books. Alfred can be seen masquerading as Bill or Ben during our Days out with Thomas events.
Alfred being so small is easier to transport than other engines and has been on various excursions. In April 1999, Alfred visited the North Cornwall port of Padstow for the towns first “Fish and Ships” Festival. Over the years Alfred has made trips to the West Somerset Railway for their “Days out with Thomas” event, Alfred made a trip of the 20-mile line, quite some way with such small wheels. In August 2002, Alfred went out again, this time to St Blazey and Par. For the first time in 24 years Alfred was to be seen moving around the Par Docks on its way to the EWS yard at St Blazey for the first “Family Open Day”. On this trip Alfred was accompanied by the three mainline diesels from Bodmin, many other “in service” and preserved mainline diesels and GWR “King Edward I” (a real little and large show).
Due to the somehow friendly nature of this engine it is amongst the favourites of many people.