9655 'Bluey' - 20/28HP

MR.9655 was ordered in May 1951 by R. Fielding & Son of Blackpool. It was delivered in October 1951 to their Warbreck Hill Brickworks, where it was used to transport clay and other materials used to manufacture bricks. 

Warbreck Hill closed in 1961 and MR.9655 was sold to G.W Bungey, a second-hand locomotive dealer, who then sold it on in 1962 to J&A Jackson in Manchester. J&A Jackson owned a number of Brickworks in the Manchester area. MR.9655 saw use at several of their sites, often being transported between the various works as and when required. MR.9655 is noted to have spent time at the company’s Windmill Lane Brickworks and Bredbury Brickworks during this period.

With a decline in business J&A Jackson sold MR.9655 in January 1971 to Henry Oakland & Sons’ Escrick Tile Works near York. At Escrick Tile Works MR.9655 was numbered No. 1 in the company’s fleet of Motor Rail ‘Simplex’ locomotives. During 1974/1975 MR.9655 underwent a major rebuild and was fitted with a reconditioned engine supplied by Dorman, the original engine manufacturer. Alongside the new engine, MR.9655 was also given an extended chassis and the bodywork from a lorry that had previously worked at the tile works. It was during this rebuild that MR.9655 was repainted blue, a colour which it carried for the remainder of its working life. MR.9655 ran at Escrick until 1979 when the tile works ceased using their rail system. 

In Autumn 1981 MR.9655 entered preservation when it was donated by Henry Oakland & Sons to North Ings Farm in Lincolnshire. It became the second locomotive to run at the farm, however due to engine and clutch issues saw little use. MR.9655 was then acquired by a member of the Old Kiln Light Railway in September 1985, however this proved to be a short stay as in August 1986 the locomotive was sold on to Tony Joyce. Tony Joyce disassembled MR.9655 in the garage of his home in London, and made a start on restoring the locomotive, but this ultimately turned out to be another short-lived endeavour as MR.9655 was then sold in a disassembled state to the Stevington and Turvey Light Railway. Moving initially to Millbrook Station Yard in October 1987, and then onwards to the Stevington and Turvey Light Railway in June 1989. MR.9655 was rebuilt over many years at Turvey, before finally re-entering service in June 1997.

In 2014 the Stevington and Turvey Light Railway closed, and its members and stock moved to form the Woburn Sands and Bow Brickhill Light Railway. In 2021 the Woburn Sands and Bow Brickhill Light Railway closed, and all remaining locomotives and rolling stock were put up for sale. 

MR.9655 was sold in October 2022 in a very poor, dismantled state to a member of the Old Kiln Light Railway, making it the only locomotive at the railway that has left and returned at a later date. After an almost 4 year long rebuild MR.9655 returned to service at the Old Kiln Light Railway in September 2026.