lb-baldwin

The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Baldwin locomotives were a group of 2-4-2T tank engines built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, USA, for the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway — the 1 ft 11½ in narrow-gauge railway that ran through the spectacular scenery of Exmoor in North Devon between Barnstaple and Lynton from 1898 to 1935. The L&BR's Baldwin locomotives — Yeo, Exe, and Taw, named after North Devon rivers — were the American-built counterparts to the British-built Manning Wardle locomotive on the line, and represented the L&BR's willingness to source motive power from the best available suppliers regardless of national origin.

The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway was one of the most scenic and romantically situated narrow-gauge railways in England, climbing through Exmoor's wooded combes and high moorland ridges on gradients that demanded capable and reliable motive power. Its closure in 1935 by the Southern Railway (which had absorbed the L&BR in the Grouping) was controversial and regretted, and restoration attempts have continued for decades. One Baldwin survivor, Lyn, is preserved and associated with the L&BR Restoration Society's project to reopen a section of the original line.