Annie

Annie is a steam locomotive that operates on the Groudle Glen Railway on the Isle of Man. Design The replica Annie was built by Richard Booth to the design of a Bagnall class 'E' locomotive named Annie which was built in 1911 and shipped to New Zealand to operate the Gentle Annie Tramway near Gisborne. The original Annie later ended up at a quarry at Motuhora along with another Bagnall engine from the Gentle Annie Tramway, and was buried on the site by a landslide in the late-1950s/early 1960s. Dug up in the late 1970s, the remains of Annie passed through several owners, and are now owned by the East Coast Museum of Technology at Makaraka near Gisborne, who have prepared what remains of the engine for static display. The replica Annie was constructed based upon working drawings; mechanically identical to Polar Bear but with a 0-4-2 wheel arrangement. The cylinder mould was obtained from the Bennett Brook Railway in Australia, where another replica Annie had been built. The two replicas are both gauge whereas the original Annie was built to run on gauge tracks. Construction The locomotive was built locally and at the time of construction was the island's newest steam locomotive, having been completed in 1998 and officially launched as part of the Steam 125 event that year. Since this time two new steam locomotives have been provided for the Laxey Mines Railway making them the newest locomotives on the island, although the volunteers at Groudle Glen Railway are currently in the process of building Brown Bear, a replica of the railway's 1905 locomotive Polar Bear which they aim to have in service by 2018.