This article gives details of the locomotives used on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, a narrow gauge preserved railway line running for from Ravenglass on the Cumbrian coast to Dalegarth near the village of Boot, in Eskdale.

Steam locomotives No. 1 Sans Pareil The first gauge locomotive operated on the line, built by Bassett-Lowke of Northampton in 1912 as Prins Olaf for a railway in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. It arrived for the line's opening in 1915 to Muncaster Mill. It was a Bassett-Lowke Class 30 4-4-2 locomotive and was painted in the dark blue livery of Narrow Gauge Railways. It was withdrawn from traffic in the mid-1920s and parts of it were incorporated into the River Mite of 1927. Its leading pony truck was reused under the rear of the Passenger Tractor of 1929 for many years. An identical locomotive, Synolda, now resides in the Ravenglass railway museum.

No. 2 Colossus

A Bassett-Lowke Class 60 4-6-2, built in 1913 for Captain JE Howey, later of Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway fame, and named John Anthony. This was basically a Class 30 'Little Giant' with an extra pair of driving wheels. Howey had already run a 9½in. gauge line with a Bassett-Lowke GN 4-4-2 Atlantic which was returned in part exchange for this 15in. gauge locomotive. Although only one example of this type was ever built, Bassett-Lowke showed it in their 1911 catalogue priced at £425! It arrived at Ravenglass at the same time as Katie in 1916 and was nearly destroyed in a collision with Muriel in 1925. However, it ran after overhaul until 1927, when it was dismantled and utilised as part of the new River Mite 4-6-0-0-6-4 four-cylinder articulated locomotive.

No. 3 Muriel, then River Irt

Muriel An 0-8-0T, constructed for the Duffield Bank Railway by Sir Arthur Heywood in 1894. Muriel incorporated a number of Heywood’s design ideas, including radiating/sliding axles and Heywood valve gear. After Sir Arthur’s death in 1916, Muriel was briefly owned by the Gretna munitions factory, before arriving at Ravenglass in 1917 along with Ella. She was principally used on goods traffic and later stone trains from Beckfoot quarry, but was also pressed into service on passenger trains during the peak summer season. She was withdrawn from service in 1927, and for a while was used as a stationary boiler at Beckfoot quarry, before being rebuilt as River Irt.

River Irt

After being withdrawn from service, Muriel was moved to Beckfoot quarry for use as a stationary boiler. However, it was found that her frames, cylinders and motion were still in good condition. It was therefore decided to rebuild her as a 0-8-2 tender locomotive for use on passenger trains. The rebuild was conducted at Murthwaite in 1927, with a frame extension added to the rear of her existing main frame to take the new set of trailing wheels and a larger firebox. A 6-wheel tender replaced her side tanks/coal bunker, and a 1/3 scale cab was added. This gave a somewhat squat appearance, but mechanically the rebuild was successful. Muriel re-entered service in 1928, and was renamed River Irt after one of the rivers that meets the sea at Ravenglass. River Irt has remained in traffic on passenger duties ever since (apart from being mothballed whilst passenger services were suspended during the Second World War), and is now the oldest working gauge locomotive in the world. In 1972 she was rebuilt with a new tender and a narrow gauge outline cab/funnel/dome, and was then re-boilered in 1977, giving the locomotive her current appearance.

She has visited the National Railway Museum in York and was part of the Ratty fleet at the Liverpool and Gateshead Garden Festival Railways in 1984 and 1990. The livery of the locomotive was for many years mid-green with yellow and black lining, however for the railway's 150th anniversary in 2025, the livery was updated to an approximation of Heywood green in reference to the locomotive's origins as Muriel.

River Irt briefly appears in animated form in the 1982 animated film The Plague Dogs, where the engine is seen pulling the train the two main characters use to escape from a group of soldiers hunting them.

River Irt was used as a basis for the character Bert in The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry, first appearing in Small Railway Engines.

No. 4 Ella Sir Arthur Heywood's 0-6-0T of 1881, built for his Duffield Bank Railway, it arrived with Muriel in 1917. Ten years later came the decision to convert the locomotive into an Internal Combustion machine, after years of regular use on granite trains from Beckfoot quarry. Its frames became part of ICL No. 2.

No. 5 Sir Aubrey Brocklebank

A 4-6-2 tender locomotive, similar to Colossus, built by Hunt of Southampton in 1919. The engine became the railway's new flagship locomotive on passenger duties and replaced Sans Pareil in everyday usage. In 1927 the engine was dismantled and used in the construction of the new River Mite (I) locomotive, the running gear of the locomotive combined with that of Colossus gave the railway a new four-cylinder machine for the 1928 season.

No. 6 Katie

A 0-4-0T built by Sir Arthur Heywood in 1896 for the Duke of Westminster's Eaton Hall Railway. It came to Ravenglass in 1916 and left in 1919. Few photographs survive of it working in Cumbria, however the remains of the locomotive returned to the railway in 1982 after spells at Llewellyn's Miniature Railway, Southport and the Fairbourne Railway, Wales. In 1992, the R&ER Heritage Group formed, with an aim to restore the locomotive to original condition. After many years of fundraising and work, Katie’s rebuild was completed in 2017 by Station Road Steam, in Metheringham near Lincoln. She is usually on display in the railway’s museum at Ravenglass, but is frequently steamed for special events and 'driver for a fiver' days in the summer. She has also made several visits away from Ravenglass since her return to steam, including the Beamish Open Air Museum, the Fairbourne Railway, the Kirklees Light Railway, Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, Perrygrove Railway and Heatherslaw Light Railway.

No. 7 River Esk

Built in 1923 as a 2-8-2 by Davey Paxman of Colchester and designed by Henry Greenly, River Esk is the predecessor to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway's Greenly Pacific locomotives. It was named after a local river and was designed to haul both stone and passenger trains, however it soon found more use on passenger traffic. It was originally fitted with Lentz poppet valve gear, but this didn’t prove to be successful. It was painted works grey in 1924, then LMS red with black and straw lining to 1927. It was then repainted mid green with black and yellow lining during a rebuild in 1928 by the Yorkshire Engine Co, when the original valve gear was replaced with the current Walschaerts valve gear. At the same time, the loco received a Poultney steam tender, making the locomotive a 2-8-2-0-8-0. This proved unsuccessful and was soon removed, instead being utilised nearly forty years later as part of the second River Mite, after languishing at Murthwaite.

The locomotive was out of use from 1940 to 1952, survived into the preservation era and was repainted in a new livery of LNWR black in 1967 and received a new tender in 1970. In 1983, the Esk was fitted with a gas-producer boiler and received an award from British Coal, however this has been out of use since 2001. The locomotive has visited the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway several times. The engine is currently in Blackberry Black of the LNWR with red, off-white and black lining.

In 2013, River Esk was undergoing an overhaul in the workshop at Ravenglass when the facility was destroyed in a fire. Staff and volunteers managed to save the frames and some other components from the flames, but the majority of River Esk’s parts were damaged beyond repair. Following completion of the new workshop in 2015, River Esk was rebuilt at Ravenglass with a new tender based on the one provided for Whillan Beck, and improvements to her exhaust system along with other modernisations by Nigel Day. She returned to steam in 2018, and remains in regular service.

River Esk was used as a basis for the character Rex in The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry, first appearing in Small Railway Engines.

No. 8 River Mite (I)

The first River Mite was an articulated Kitson-Meyer locomotive built at Murthwaite in 1927, using the frames and running gear of Colossus and Sir Aubrey Brocklebank as the power bogies. She was used on both goods and passenger trains, but the worn out scale model frames proved to be too weak, and she was withdrawn from service in the late 1930s. It had been intended to rebuild her with stronger, purpose built power bogies, but the outbreak of the Second World War, and the subsequent post-war austerity, made this impossible. What remained of the locomotive was broken up during the 1950s.

No. 9 River Mite (II)

Using the former Poultney 0-8-0 tender chassis, fitted to River Esk from 1928 to 1931, the new Preservation Society in 1963 started fund raising and ordered it to be built into a 2-8-2 locomotive, which was designed and completed by Clarksons of York. It was delivered in December 1966 hauled by a traction engine called Providence, and commissioned on 20 May 1967. Its presence enabled the railway to operate a longer and more intensive summer service.

It is in many ways similar to the River Esk, using that loco's original 1923 coupled wheels in the Yorkshire Engine Company frames but different front and a rear Cortazzi truck, with a miniature main line outline styled on an LNER Gresley Class P1 locomotive and an LMSR Stanier tender. The cost was some £8,000, entirely raised by voluntary subscription as are all the major maintenance costs.

After heavy overhauls in 1977 and 2006/7, it celebrated its fortieth year at Ravenglass in 2007 owned by the R&ER Preservation Society. The locomotive was painted in the Indian Red of the Furness Railway, with yellow and black (now vermilion and black) lining, apart from a short period in cherry red from 1972 to 1977.

At the end of the 2019 operating season, River Mite was withdrawn for another major overhaul. The work was conducted at Old Hall Farm, Bouth, where she received a new tender and cab. She returned to Ravenglass in early 2021, and has since returned to passenger traffic.

River Mite was used as a basis for the character Mike in The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry, first appearing in Small Railway Engines.

No. 10 Northern Rock

With passenger numbers increasing in the early 1970s, the decision was taken by the railway company to acquire another steam loco to supplement the existing fleet. After undertaking trials with the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway No. 2, Northern Chief in 1972, it was decided that the new loco would be a 2-6-2 narrow gauge outline design to match the profile of the new closed saloons entering service on the railway, and incorporating the best features of a number of existing locomotives. The new loco would also be built onsite in the railway’s workshop at Ravenglass. Originally, the new engine was to be named Sir Arthur Heywood. After the railway received funding from the Northern Rock building society to support the construction of the new loco, it was instead decided to name the locomotive after its chief sponsor. It entered traffic in 1976, as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the railway’s opening to passengers.