We recently got a very unexpected donation from a visitor. He had a piece of one of our steam engines in his attic for over 50 years!
In the 1960s, Blundell lived close to where our two O&K locos, Nos. 1 and 3, were stored before they were preserved at Downpatrick. As the engines were out of use at the time, he took the opportunity to “borrow” one of their whistles to add to his railwayana collection. Since these were made to a rare “Zwiebelpfeife” (“onion pipe”) design. This was unique to Orenstein & Koppel steam engines. We were unable to source a replacement when we acquired the locos. The engines were therefore fitted with standard off-the-shelf cylindrical whistles when they entered service on our railway.
After meeting a DCDR volunteer at one of our model show stands last year, Blundell made the journey to Downpatrick a few weeks ago to visit the locos that he climbed on when he was young. He very generously donated the whistle to our museum. Although neither of the O&Ks is currently in service, they’re now safely inside our Maghera Shed, and we’re looking forward to fitting the Zwiebelpfeife whistle to one of them in a few years’ time. Thank you, Blundell, for keeping the whistle safe and for donating it to us after all these years!
Do you have any steam engine bits or other railway artefacts lying around in your attic? If so, simply send us a message to get in touch.
