Steam for
the Dockyard.

One of the first Aveling & Porter tramway engines associated with Chatham. Its 2-2-0 tramway design worked on the Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway before transferring to the Chattenden & Upnor Railway.

A second Aveling & Porter 2-2-0 tramway engine. Maker records identify this as one of the Chatham orders. It later worked on the Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway.

A third early tramway engine. Aveling & Porter records confirm the Chatham connection; it later worked on the Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway.

One of two Aveling & Porter engines of this number series recorded at Chatham. The Chatham engines in the group worked on the Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway.

Delivered in the same year as AP 718. The historic record associates the Aveling & Porter tramway engines with Lodge Hill & Upnor and later transfer to the Chattenden & Upnor Railway.

The latest of the six Aveling & Porter tramway engines in the register. It was listed among the Chatham engines but worked on the Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway.

Royal Engineer was built by Manning, Wardle & Co. at Boyne Engine Works, Leeds, and dispatched new to the War Department’s Lodge Hill & Upnor Railway on 21 March 1876. It worked on that railway’s standard-gauge section until the line was regauged to 2 ft 6 in and the engine transferred to Chatham Dockyard.

Sold circa 1892 to contractor William Rigby of Erith, it later worked on two South Eastern Railway projects: the Bexleyheath line between Blackheath and Crayford Creek Junction (1891–1895), and new freight sidings at Hither Green for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway (1902–1911). It was advertised for sale in May 1911. Its final fate is unknown.

Built at Brighton Works in 1880 as London, Brighton & South Coast Railway A1 class No. 79, Minories, this Terrier entered service in July. It worked at New Cross, Eastbourne and Newhaven, then ran Seaford services. In 1905 it became Brighton Works pilot. A new boiler, smaller 12-inch cylinders and motor-train equipment followed in 1906; it was renumbered 679 and lost its name in 1907. Rebuilt to A1X class in 1912 after 823,265 miles, it later worked from Fratton and West Croydon.

Declared surplus in January 1918, it was sold to the Admiralty for £1,200 and sent to Invergordon, then W.D. Catterick Camp in May 1919. It came to Chatham in 1920 as M.E.D. No. 4, renamed Chatham No. 4, and supplied steam to a compressor near No. 2 graving dock. It was broken up after withdrawal; the surviving sources disagree on the date, recording September 1932 and October 1933.

Built by Hudswell, Clarke & Co. at Jack Lane Works, Leeds, for Pinxton Coal Company, where it was named Frank. After an overhaul at the maker’s works in late 1896, it went to Holloway Brothers in September 1897 and was renamed Daisy.

Holloway Brothers used it on the Admiralty contract to construct the New Naval Barracks at Chatham Dockyard. It was later sold to the Royal Arsenal Railway at Woolwich and subsequently transferred to the Admiralty at Chatham. Its fate is uncertain; the register records “sold/scrapped” in 1932.

Sharp, Stewart locomotive originally supplied to the Royal Arsenal Railway at Woolwich, then transferred to Chatham. The register records a sale in 1932.

A second locomotive named Vulcan, this one built by Vulcan Foundry and also transferred from Woolwich Arsenal. It was scrapped in June 1951.

Arrived from the War Department railway at Shoeburyness. Its disposal date and final fate are not known.

Built by R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie at Forth Bank Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and delivered new to Chatham Dockyard in 1899 as M.E.D. No. 14. It spent its working life at Chatham until sold to Thomas Ward, locomotive dealers, in October 1957.

Circa 1958 it passed to J. W. Hardwick & Sons, contractors at West Ewell, Surrey. Around 1971 it was sold to W. Lees of Farncombe for preservation. It is now part of the Hollycombe Steam Collection at Liphook.

One of the Hawthorn Leslie saddle tanks delivered new to Chatham. The register records scrapping in October 1955.

Built by Manning, Wardle & Co. at Boyne Engine Works, Leeds, for the Gates & Hogg contract at Conisbrough, Yorkshire, where it was named Champion. It later worked for contractors Baldry & Yerburgh at Selby, then for Walter, Scott & Middleton on the Great Western / Great Central Joint Railway construction between Ashendon Junction and Aynho (1906–1910).

Circa 1917 it was sold to the Admiralty and moved to the Royal Naval Cordite Factory at Holton Heath, Dorset, where it became RNCF No. 4. The factory made cordite and later gun propellants for the Royal Navy; after the war some of the site became an Admiralty research establishment. The locomotive transferred to Chatham in 1925, worked there until withdrawn, and was scrapped in September 1932.

It is also recorded as having worked on the Chattenden Naval Tramway, despite being allocated to Chatham Dockyard.

Originally supplied as a 0-4-0 crane tank before being rebuilt as a 0-4-0 saddle tank. Its disposal is recorded as scrapped or sold, without a firm date.

Built new for Chatham and recorded scrapped in October 1955.

Built new for Chatham in 1911 and recorded scrapped in October 1955.

Andrew Barclay built this locomotive at Caledonia Works, Kilmarnock, and delivered it new to Chatham Dockyard in 1914 as M.E.D. No. 27. In October 1949 it was sold to Abelson, locomotive dealers, and delivered to their Birmingham yard.

It was hired to British Cellophane at Bridgwater in 1950–51, then to Southhook Shawcross Fireclay at Boutree Hill, Ayrshire, in 1952. In 1960 it was sold for scrap to an unidentified firm in Lanarkshire.

Built by Andrew Barclay at Caledonia Works, Kilmarnock, and delivered new to Chatham Dockyard in 1914 as M.E.D. No. 28. It was sold to Abelson, locomotive dealers, in October 1949 and delivered to their Birmingham yard.

Later hires included N.C.B. Bank Hall Colliery (1950), Shaws Glazed Brick Company at Darwen and Chesterfield Tube Company (1951), Enderby & Stoney Stanton Granite Company (1952), Albright & Wilson at Oldbury and N.C.B.O.E. Hapton Disposal Point at Burnley (1954), and Tarmac at Rose Grove. Its final fate is unknown; the register records it as sold or scrapped.

Built new for the Dockyard. The historic register lists it as scrapped or sold but does not record a date.

Sentinel built the power unit at Battlefield Works, Shrewsbury, for a steam railcar delivered to the Jersey Eastern Railway in October 1927 as Brittany. When the line closed in June 1929, the coach body and power unit were separated. The body became a garden holiday home at Greve d’Azette. A. O. Hill, shipbreakers at Admiralty Dockyard Dover, bought the railway’s plant and movable effects in November 1929. A 1931 manifest for the ship Ringwood lists a “chassis” shipped from Jersey; researchers believe it may have been No. 6994’s power unit, as no other Jersey locomotive shipment has been traced.

The Admiralty sent the unit to Chatham, where it worked until 1932. Advertised for sale in April that year, it was bought by George Cohen & Sons and recorded at their Bidder Street scrapyard by July 1933. It was hired to Canning Town Glass Works, then sold to William Jones in 1935. Rebuilt with a steel body as a 0-4-0 geared shunter, it went to J. S. Peters’ Merstham Lime Company, where it was named DOM and its gearing altered from 1:1 to 3:1.

After rail traction ended at Merstham in 1946, it moved to Standard Brick & Sand at Redhill, then the Kent & East Sussex Railway in 1962. It was sent to Aylesbury Scrap Metals in March 1973 and scrapped the following month. Its crankcase is now used in Sentinel No. 6515. A group later formed to recreate the railcar; the original Jersey body was recovered in late 2011 for a replacement coach body. The Industrial Locomotive Society helped piece together this history.

Built new for Chatham in 1932 and scrapped in March 1957.

Built new for Chatham in 1934 and sold in 1957.

Built new for Chatham in 1935 and scrapped in 1963.

Built by R. & W. Hawthorn Leslie at Forth Banks Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the Admiralty in 1936 and sent new to Singapore Dockyard as M.E.D. No. 10. On return to Chatham in 1953, it carried Yard No. 440. It was captured during the Japanese invasion in 1942 and suffered damage; bullet holes remain visible.

It worked at Chatham until withdrawn in 1968. After preservation at the South Eastern Steam Centre, Market Overton and Rutland Railway Museum, it briefly moved to the Imperial War Museum’s Duxford site in 1992. It returned to Rutland in 1995 and is preserved in working order as a memorial to Far East prisoners of war.

Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns built AJAX new for Chatham in 1941. Works No. 7042 was allocated M.E.D. No. 6 and later Yard No. 361. The locomotive remains at the Historic Dockyard and is undergoing overhaul, with fundraising underway.

Built by Andrew Barclay at Caledonia Works, Kilmarnock, and delivered new to Chatham Dockyard in 1945 as M.E.D. No. 8, later renumbered Yard No. 398. It worked at Chatham until withdrawn in 1968 and sold in August 1972, moving to a scrapyard at Swanley.

Rescued from the scrapyard, it moved to the South Eastern Steam Centre at Ashford in October 1973, to the Colne Valley Railway in April 1978, and to the Epping Ongar Railway in mid-2012.

Built by Andrew Barclay and delivered new to Chatham Dockyard in 1945 as M.E.D. No. 7. It was scrapped in July 1972.

Built by Andrew Barclay at Caledonia Works, Kilmarnock, and delivered new to Chatham Dockyard in 1946 as M.E.D. No. 9, later renumbered Yard No. 417. It worked at Chatham until withdrawal and sale to the Invicta Locomotive Preservation Society in 1972.

It moved to the Severn Valley Railway in June 1972, then to Chasewater and Long Marston. It returned to Chatham Dockyard in late 2009 for restoration to working order.