Winson Engineering was a British manufacturer of

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

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petrol ...

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

and rolling stock during the 1990s. It built several new locomotives for

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

s as well as undertaking major rebuilds of existing locomotives.

History

Winson was founded in the mid-1980s, although it was not incorporated until 21 March 1990. The engineering works were initially at the harbour in

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ffest ...

. In 1988, the company moved to

Penrhyndeudraeth Penrhyndeudraeth (; ) is a small town and community in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The town is close to the mouth of the River Dwyryd on the A487 nearly east of Porthmadog, and had a population of 2,150 at the 2011 census, increased from 2,0 ...

. In 1995 the company moved again to

Daventry Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, making ...

. In June 2001 the company went into receivership and subsequently closed.

Significant Projects

Rebuilds

* Rebuild of

Welsh Highland Railway The Welsh Highland Railway (WHR) or Rheilffordd Eryri is a long, restored narrow gauge heritage railway in the Welsh county of Gwynedd, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations in ...

Bagnall ''Gelert'' * Preparation of

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Ffestiniog) is a heritage railway based on narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park. The railway is roughly long an ...

Fairlie 0-4-4-0T ''Livingston Thompson'' for display in the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

* Winson 7

Bure Valley Railway The Bure Valley Railway is a minimum gauge visitors' attraction in Norfolk, England, Norfolk, England. It was created on the original disused full-gauge bed of a defunct passenger service to incorporate a new, adjacent pedestrian footpath. The ...

No. 1 2-6-4T ''Wroxham Broad'', planned as steam but completed as steam-outline petrol-hydraulic 2-6-2 ''Tracey-Jo'' in 1964 by Guest Engineering & Maintenance (Ltd), re-built/restored to steam by Winson 1992

New locomotives

* Winson 12

No.6 ZB Class 2-6-2 ''Blickling Hall'' gauge, built 1994 * Winson 14

No.7 ZB Class 2-6-2 ''Spitfire'' gauge, built 1994 * Winson 15 2-6-2T ''Camila'' gauge, built 1995 for Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. * Winson 16

No.8 ZB Class 2-6-2 oil-fired ''Thunder'' (now ''John of Gaunt'', coal fired) gauge, supplied as parts and built by the

1996/7. * Winson 17

Corris Railway The Corris Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd Corris) is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire (now Gwynedd) and Montgomeryshire (now Powys) in Mid-Wales. The line opened in 1859 as a horse tramway, runni ...

0-4-2ST No.7 gauge, built 1999-2004 - work completed at Drayton Designs. * Winson 19 2-6-2T "Abt_ Kun" gauge, built 1998 for Tetsudou_Bunka_Mura Japanese Theme Park (Matsuida city). * Winson 20

No.9 ZB Class 2-6-4 ''Mark Timothy'' gauge, built 1999 At the time of liquidation the company was building a replica of the Manning Wardle locomotive ''Yeo'' for the

Lynton & Barnstaple Railway The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway (L&B) opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track, narrow gauge railway and was slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, ...

. The frames are currently (2010) in storage awaiting further work. Winson 20 ''Mark Timothy'' was unusable as delivered, and was subsequently rebuilt by

Alan Keef 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 was formed in 1975 at Cote, Bampton, Oxon, ...

Ltd in 2003.

New rolling stock

* Six carriages for the Welsh Highland Railway * Four carriages built in 1996 for the Dresden Parkeisenbahn

References

* {{reflist, 30em Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom