This loco was ordered by the ministry of munitions, doubtless with the intention of using it on the War Department Light Railways built during WW1 to supply material to the front lines. However, it was despatched from Motor Rail’s works on 10/12/18, and thus was to late for ”active service”. It appears that the loco may have been used for a while at the War Department depot in Corsham, Wiltshire, but by 1928 it had been sold to the City Of York’s Naburn Sewage Works. It was put into store in 1964 and then sold in 1971 to William Elliot & Sons of Rufforth.
The loco was subsequently purchased by Peter Lowe, of the Abbey Light Railway in Leeds on 14/1/1976; Peter then swapped MR1111 for another loco, and it joined the collection of Ian Jolly at Mold, near Wrexham, on 29/11/1980. In 1990, the loco moved to the Old Kiln Railway at Farnham. On 5/4/1992, MR1111 finally joined the MRT collection as little more than a giant Meccano kit. A painstaking restoration followed, which led ton a triumphal visit to the Ffestiniog Railway in May 1995, where it hauled ”class D” bogie wagons in a recreation of the duties it would have performed in France nearly 77 years ago. The loco was placed on display at Apedale on 12/3/2004.
Moseley Railway Trust Fleet List 