Exmoor ‘Bernarda von Barnards‘
Bernarda von Barnards was built by Exmoor Locomotive Works at their workshops in Bratton Fleming, Devon. The standard Exmoor design (such as Doris Hilburn, Jean, and Amy Louise) was standard across most of their locomotives built, however two special locomotives were built to an otherwise different design. These locomotives had an Orenstein & Koppel (O&K), both taking seperate paths.
One of the two, called ‘Jeremy’, went to the private Wayside Light Railway in Kent, and has remained there ever since. One one, also named ‘Jeremy’ went to the Brookside Miniature Railway in Cheshire.
Brookside had a fleet of several Exmoor locomotives, including our own ‘Jean’, which was the favourite loco on the line and used more compared to Jeremy. When the Brookside Miniature Railway closed in 2018 ‘Jeremy’ was offered for sale, shortly being purchased for use at Barnards. He arrived towards the end of 2018 and has remained here ever since.
Jeremy made its public debut on our Steam Gala, 2018, hauling trains all the way up to Angel Green (something which is not usually done now with steam due to the steep gradients). It was in 2019 when she was renamed to ‘Bernarda von Barnards’, and has retained that name ever since.