Belgium ROD Locomotives

[Wayne Finch]

I had the honour of meeting the late Kenneth H Leech in the very latter part of his life, firstly when he visited the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway near Cheltenham UK. Kenneth was visiting the railway as part of his 98th birthday celebrations. He came back for his 100th as well (!). It turned out that he served as a Lieutenant in the ROD during WW1 and he kindly gave me 2 photographs taken in Belgium during his time there. One picture is of an 0-6-0 tender locomotive No. 2400, and written on the back is "Belpaire's 0-6-0, Belgium State Railway". The other photograph is of an 0-6-0 Tank engine No'd 201 or 291. Both photo's state "Not for Reproduction", so I am trying to honour Kenneth's wish by not reproducing them here. The only other thing written on the back of the 0-6-0 Tank photo is "Captain Georgie Bellamy". If anyone has any further details of the locomotives, and/or Captain Georgie Bellamy, I would be very pleased to hear from you. Thank you in anticipation.

[Terry_Reeves]

Wayne

Capt Bellamy's medal index card shows his forenames to be George Sidney. He first entered a theatre of war on 30.10.1915 and his home address is given as 32 Nottingham Road, Spondon, nr Derby. His personal file appears not to have survived. It is possible that he was employed by the Midland Railway prior to the war and therefore a search of their records might throw up some information, in particular, a company magazine perhaps?

TR

[Wayne Finch]

Terry, many thanks for the information.....very much appreciated. I'll give that a go.

V/R Wayne

[Wayne Finch]

Thanks to Terry, I just researched the Midland Railway staff records and Captain Bellamy appears to be listed as a Fitter in the Chief Mechanical Engineer's Dept at Derby prior to joining up.

[centurion]

AFAIK ROD did not operate in Belgium during the war except for assisting with some RE built light 2ft gauge railways for which locos from Motor Rail were bought. When ROD first arrived in Northern France after April 1915 they initially took over and operated locomotives that had been evacuated from Belgium as the Germans overran most of the country. Presumably the loco you refer to was one of these.

[Wayne Finch]

Oops, I need to correct something. The pictures were taken in France, not Belgium, but are of Belgium locomotives.

[Rockdoc]

Alfred Belpaire was Belgian but died in 1893, aged 72, so it's conceivable that it's one of his designs but I would have thought it was more likely to be carrying a boiler with his design of firebox. Most British railways did not use the design so it would have been worthy of comment.

Keith

[centurion]

Alfred Belpaire was Belgian but died in 1893, aged 72, so it's conceivable that it's one of his designs but I would have thought it was more likely to be carrying a boiler with his design of firebox. Most British railways did not use the design so it would have been worthy of comment.

Keith

As I said earlier ROD began by using Belgian locomotives evacuated from Belgium in 1914 (and then French locos). It was only at the end of 1916 that British locos began to be used in significant numbers. It is therefore quite possible that the loco in question is Belgian.

[Wayne Finch]

Thank you so much for your suggestions and help. I'm beginning to think the tender locomotive is a Stoomloc Type 25, albeit with a round chimney as opposed to a square chimney as shown in WIKIEPEDIA