The "Yankee"

In the early 1900s, when traffic was increasing quite dramatically, the EMR board decided to order another locomotive. There was an engineering strike in Britain (as is well documented in the history of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway too). The directors conferred with other railways, including the L&B, and the decision was taken to order a locomotive from Baldwin in the United States. What is not so widely known is that before the final decision was taken, Baldwin came to a commercial arrangement with the L&B to allow the L&B's brand new locomotive to undergo trials on the Evensford and Midland. This was kept a closely guarded secret and until recently, no photographs were believed to exist of the Baldwin undergoing these trials.

Of course, some very clever engineering was involved (!) because the L&B is 2ft gauge and the EMR is a 3 foot gauge railway. This was accomplished magnificently by using pony truck wheels of the different gauge and adjusting the driving wheels with a clever arrangement of set screws on the axles.

The EMR loco is therefore of exactly the same era as Lyn and bears a strong family resemblance to the her. As on the L&B, she became known as "the Yankee".