The Mardyke collection is made up of locomotives and units built by the Essex based miniature railway supplier Mardyke Railways, many of these have now become historic and collectable in their own right, some of the locomotives were built nearly 50 years ago! Mardyke Railway’s founder Des de smedt built his locomotives to be strong and durable , The construction is all steel and use powerful diesel and petrol engines. Mardyke Railways built many iconic trains from the humble diesel railbuses to the mighty class 55 deltic.
Class 35 Hymek D7096
D7096 was the first locomotive to arrive on the BMR in 2010 and is an 11hp Diesel-Hydraulic. The Locomotive was built By Mardyke Miniature Railways in 1992 with a 5hp petrol engine in it and first ran at the Grand Chigwell Railway in Essex. In 2008 it was rebuilt as a diesel-hydraulic and gave it the same transmission as the full size Hymek, hence it gained the unofficial nickname ‘Minimek’. The locomotive has handled the brunt of the passenger trains and the works trains over the past few years. D7096 carries the two tone green livery of 1960’s British Railways. The Real D7096 was scrapped in 1986 and many parts for it including it’s engine were used to keep it’s class mate D7076 operational on preserved railways.
Class 47 47548 ‘The Silcock Express’
47548 is another Mardyke Built diesel-hydraulic. This class 47 was built for the Ness Island Railway, Inverness in 1992 and was finished appropriately in Scotrail colours. In 2002 it was sold to the Bolebroke Castle and Lakes Railway in Sussex and overhauled. It remained there until June 2013 until it was purchased by the Barnards Miniature Railway. She carries the 1980’s style ‘Stratford’ blue complete with light grey roof and is powered by the same Kubota Z482 engine as in the ‘Hymek’. The Class 47’s were a standard British Rail design Introduced in 1961 and over 500 were built and are still in active service today albeit in small numbers. In 2016 47548 was named ‘ The Silcock Express’ by Sylvia Holmes at a ceremony at Barnards Farm, the reason the name was chosen was that Bernard Holmes was Managing Director at Silcock Express in the 1980’s and full size class 47 47231 was named ‘The Silcock Express’ by Sylvia in 1988, of course Bernard and Sylvia are the owners of Barnards Farm so it was a must when we acquired a class 47!
Class 47 47512
This locomotive is the twin sister to 47548, It was built at Mardykes in 1992 and was delivered new to the Swanley New Barn Railway in Kent. It carried standard Intercity livery and it ran there until 2007 were it then withdrawn a life expired and put into storage. After it was withdrawn a start was made to overhaul the locomotive and the bodywork was repaired and repainted into EWS (English, Welsh and Scottish) Railway maroon. The mechanical overhaul never took place and many of the components were removed. She was Purchased for use at Barnards Farm In August 2014 and is currently in line for it’s mechanical overhaul.
Class 55 Deltic D9019 ‘Royal Highland Fusilier’
This locomotive arrived at the BMR in April 2011 and it was previously at the Lenham Miniature Railway in Kent and before that at the Belton Light Railway in Lincolnshire. The Locomotive was built by Mardyke Miniature Railways in 1979 with a 5hp petrol engine and in 2012 she was completely rebuilt with 2 x 6.5hp petrol engines making it the only twin engine miniature locomotive in the country. ‘RHF’ often works the BMR diesel passenger services. 55019 is finished in the Blue livery of 1970’s British Rail. The full sized 55019 is preserved under the ownership of the Deltic Preservation Society and can be seen in action on preserved railways and on mainline charter trains.
Class 101 Diesel Multiple Unit (2 car)
This 2 car train is known as a Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) this means the full size version does not have a traditional locomotive, but has engines mounted under the carriages and is able to work with other DMUs in short and longer formations. These were seen on many branchlines and cross country routes from the late 1950’s to the Mid 2000’s many examples were nearly 50 years old when they retired! Our 2 car set was built in 1982 by Mardyke railways, well one of the cars was! Mardykes built the power car but never got round to making the trailer car. The power car was stored for many years and never used until it was purchased in 2012 by members of the Chesterfield Model engineering club. It was then restored to full working order and a trailer car was built from scratch. The train was then finished in 1960’s green livery and was used at Chesterfield until 2020 when it was purchased by the BMR for its own Branchline operations. The plan is to have a centre car made to increase capacity.
Leyland Railbuses
Orient Express coach
BR Mk 3 coaches