THE Mid-Suffolk Railway is receiving Peckett 0-4-0T Marcia (1631/1923) on loan from the Kent & East Sussex Railway. Due to arrive on November 18, the locomotive will be used on selected weekends until January 1, alongside the railway’s existing fleet.
Weighing only 12 tons and with a wheel diameter of only 2ft 3in, Marcia is one of the smallest standard gauge steam locos in the country, and is certainly the smallest locomotive ever operated by the ‘Middy’. It is expected to return to the KESR in the spring. Of the railway’s home fleet, Cockerill 0-4-0VBT (2525/1906) and Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Wissington (1700/1938), which is on long term loan from the North Norfolk Railway, are both due to share duties with Marcia.