The chief executive of Vale of Rheidol Railway in Aberystwyth says he is thrilled that one of the least-seen locomotives in preservation – Belgian-built Couillet 1318 of 1900 – has finally returned to steam after decades away from public view.
The railway sold the locomotive to Pairi Daiza Zoo’s Steam Railway, just a few miles from the site of the factory where it was built. Run on the Sabero Railway in Spain until 1969, it was then stored as part of the legendary “Collection X” owned by British railway enthusiast extraordinaire Peter Rampton until 2022.
When Rampton died in 2019, most of the collection was rehomed at another of his interests, the Vale of Rheidol Railway. One that did not go to Mid Wales was No.3.
The life of 600mm gauge 0-6-0T locomotive 1318 of the Société Métallurgique de Couillet is one lived largely out of public view. It was the third loco that Couillet built for the industrial railway of the mining company Hulleras de Sabero, in the Spanish province of León.
It was numbered 3 and hauled trains for almost 70 years until a narrow-gauge line connecting mines and a processing plant closed in 1969. Rampton stepped in to save all eight of the line’s locos and they were transported to his farm in Surrey.
After discussions in 2022, Pairi Daiza Zoo Steam Railway bought No.3 from the Vale of Rheidol with the aim of restoring it to working order. Now, after four years, the Museum of Old Machines and Technologies in the Czech Republic has completed the restoration and No 3 returned to steam on September 12 and 13.
Renamed ‘Reine Elisabeth‘ in tribute to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1876–1965), the locomotive is soon expected to enter regular public service, after trials.
“We’re thrilled to see another part of Peter Rampton’s vision – that the historic vehicles he saved from the 1960s onwards should have a purpose – be realised through the restoration of this locomotive to working order,” said Llyr Ap Iolo, the Vale of Rheidol Railway’s chief executive and chief engineer. “The Pairi Daiza line is the perfect new home for this characterful little machine.
“We have more than 30 locomotives here at the Vale of Rheidol Railway, but even more have either been part of our collection, visited, or been overhauled here. We consider all of them to be part of our VOR family.
“We extend our congratulations to the Pairi Daiza team and look forward to maintaining our international association and learning of this engine’s new life from afar.”
Another Sabero Railway loco – 0-4-0T No.103 (Henschel 16045/1918) – which was sold at the same time as the Couillet, has also recently been test-steamed at Little Braxted Light Railway in Essex.
The rest of the Sabero Railway locos are at the Vale of Rheidol Railway’s secure storage facility in Aberystwyth. One Couillet, the cosmetically-improved No.7 (1902 Borsig 0-6-2T ‘Sotillos’) and the Sabero Railway’s Presidential Saloon carriage are currently on public display in the railway’s museum in Aberystwyth.
