Alan Keef Ltd is a British narrow gauge railway engineering company which manufactures, overhauls, and deals in narrow gauge locomotives, rolling stock and associated equipment. The

Limited Company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the lia ...

was formed in 1975 at Cote, Bampton, Oxon, continuing what Alan Keef had already been doing for some years as an individual. In 1986 the company moved to larger premises at Lea, near

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye ( Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

. The first new loco was built in 1976. To date (2008) over eighty locos have been built – steam, diesel and electric. Most have been miniature or narrow gauge except for two standard gauge steam locos for Beamish Museum – the replicas of " Steam Elephant" and " Puffing Billy". In 2008 Alan Keef Ltd built the frames, running gear and mechanical parts for two Parry People Mover railcars for use on the Stourbridge Town branch (139001 and 139002). A number of Alan Keef's locomotives are replicas of steam locomotives but with diesel power. These are referred to as ''steam outline'' (s/o) in the listing below. In 1987 the company took over the production of Motor Rail locomotives. In addition to the replicas for Beamish the company has also helped restore a number of historically significant engines including both UK preserved Baldwin Class 10-12-D locomotives – No. 778 – which now works at

Leighton Buzzard Light Railway The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (LBLR) is a light railway in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, England. It operates on narrow-gauge track and is just under long. The line was built after the First World War to serve sand quarries north o ...

and more recently No 794 (referred to as No 590) from the

Welsh Highland Heritage Railway The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway is a short reconstructed heritage railway in Gwynedd, Wales. Its main station is in Porthmadog. History The origins of the WHHR lie in a small group of railway enthusiasts, including some disgruntled volunt ...

. However, this project was eventually paused and the WHHR moved the loco to the Vale of Rheidol's Aberystwyth workshops for completion in 2020. During the annual Open Day in September at the Alan Keef Headquarters, the public is welcome to see and ride examples of rail equipment from visiting exhibitors, as well as its own in-house rail equipment, on the facility's

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

and

tracks.

New & Rebuilt Locomotives

References

* * {{cite book, title=A Tale of Many Railways: An Autobiography and History of Alan Keef Ltd, first=Alan M., last=Keef, publisher=Lightmoor Press, location=Lydney, year=2008, isbn=978-1-899889-30-3

External links

Official website
Keef 2 ft gauge railways in the United Kingdom

New & Rebuilt Locomotives

See also

References

External links