Coffee Pots (RWS)

The "Coffee Pots" were small engines that worked for the Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway. They were designed by Topham Hatt and nicknamed "Coffee Pots" due to the fact they resembled coffee pots and were prone to cough up dirty brown water.

Coffee Pot No. 1
Coffee Pot No. 1 was the first of the Coffee Pots to be built.

Biography
Coffee Pot No. 1 was built by Topham Hatt at Tidmouth. The engine was created out of spare parts to run the line around the headlands to Tidmouth, as the Ulfstead Mining Company were unwilling to spend money on buying an engine despite the line being much too far for horse workings. In its original form, the engine was made up of an old portable engine mounted on a wagon chassis, driven via reduction gearing. This worked for a few years until the boiler wore out, at which point Hatt substituted it for a ship's donkey engine.

The locomotive had a total of six horsepower and a top speed of six miles per hour. Eventually, the chassis showed signs of coming apart under the strain, and thus a second Coffee Pot was built, with the first being relegated to a spare engine. Upon the railway's amalgamation with the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway to form the Tidmouth, Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, Coffee Pot No. 1 was scrapped.

Basis
These engines are of a freelance design and are not based on any specific real-life engine.

Livery
The livery worn by the Coffee Pots is currently unknown.

Appearances
Railway Series=

Companion volumes

 * 1972 - The Railway Series: Surprise Packet
 * 1976 - Railways of Sodor
 * 1987 - The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
 * 2015 - The Thomas the Tank Engine Man

Trivia

 * In Thomas & Friends, Glynn was introduced as the original No. 1 Coffee Pot engine in the 2015 feature-length special, The Adventure Begins.

Coffee Pots Nos. 2 and 3
'''Coffee Pots Nos. 2 and 3''' were the second and third of the Coffee Pots to be built respectively.

Biography
Coffee Pot No. 2 was built by Topham Hatt using a new, strengthened chassis design and a ship's donkey engine, as a successor to Coffee Pot No. 1 which was beginning to fall apart. This new engine could cope easily with one hundred tonnes on the level. Coffee Pot No. 3 was built by Topham Hatt to a similar design as No. 2, however with an enclosed design for a roadside tramway passenger service on a newly-opened extension to Elsbridge in 1910.

When the Tidmouth, Wellsworth and Suddery Railway was amalgamated in 1912, Coffee Pots Nos. 2 and 3 were kept in reserve and worked on the line between Knapford and Elsbridge, while the engines of the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway worked its main line. Both Coffee Pots would later pass into the ownership of the North Western Railway in 1915. By 1919, they - like the former Wellsworth and Suddery Railway engines - are said to have been in very poor shape.

Between 1924 and 1925 the branch line the Coffee Pots worked on was extended to Ffarquhar and its quarry, but these engines were not deemed adequate for the haul. After a probationary period at Wellsworth, Thomas was transferred to take charge of their branch line. The "Coffee Pots" continued to serve the line as back up, though their limited braking abilities on the steep Quarry Tramroad sometimes caused the heavy stone trains to run out of control.

The "Coffee Pots" were withdrawn from service and eventually scrapped around the 1950s. They were not very well documented, and were never even photographed but reference is made to them by Ffarquhar's Station Master, Kevin Volley. In his letter, it is revealed one or another were still operating during the event of Thomas and his crew being fined for illegally operating on the tramroad extension. Their actual scrapping date is not mentioned but their remaining importance would have been further diminished when Toby arrived in 1951 and took over the quarry's operations.

Basis
These engines are of a freelance design and are not based on any specific real-life engine.

Slides from the Railways of Sodor lecture suggest that No. 2 would have looked similar to one of the three vertical-boilered tank engines built by Penrhyn-based firm Sara and Burgess for use at Falmouth Docks in the 1860s. A similar engine was built by the same firm in 1912 for the Port of Par and was in service until 1927, its boiler later being mounted onto the chassis of its co-worker, Manning Wardle E Class 0-4-0ST "Punch", in 1932.

Livery
The livery worn by the Coffee Pots is currently unknown.

Appearances
Railway Series=

Companion volumes

 * 1976 - Railways of Sodor
 * 1987 - The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
 * 2015 - The Thomas the Tank Engine Man

Trivia

 * Only one engine was mentioned in the 1972 Surprise Packet publication. The second and third engines were added as a later addition in the 1976 Railways of Sodor lecture.

Coffee Pot No. 4
Coffee Pot No. 4 was the fourth of the Coffee Pots to be built.

Biography
Coffee Pot No.4 was built and designed by a young Sir Topham Hatt, when he was an engineer to the Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Railway circa 1910.

Following the railway's amalgamation in 1912, this engine was later used by the North Western Railway to pull trucks from Anopha Quarry, but was worn out soon after Thomas was given charge of the Ffarquhar Branch Line.

The "Coffee Pots" would be withdrawn from service and eventually scrapped around the 1950s. They were not very well documented, and were never even photographed. Although the fourth engine would be recorded in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways.

Basis
This engine is of a freelance design, there for it is not based on any specific real-life engine.

Livery
The livery worn by the Coffee Pot is currently unknown.

Appearances
Railway Series=

Companion volumes

 * 1987 - The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
 * 2015 - The Thomas the Tank Engine Man

Trivia

 * Only three engines were mentioned in the 1976 Railways of Sodor lecture. The fourth engine was added as a later addition in the 1987 publication, The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways.