The Vale of Rheidol Railway has taken delivery of two locomotives that once worked at the Renishaw Sugar Mills in South Africa.

The locomotives, Renishaw No. 4, an unusual Avonside ‘Heisler’, and a Bagnall articulated, Renishaw No.5, were purchased in 1969 by Peter Rampton, a secretive but avid collector of all things railwayana, for his ‘Collection X’ at his farm in Surrey.

Peter was a very private and passionate collector of narrow gauge locomotives, and his story is told in a book, Narrow Gauge Enigma – The Story of Peter Rampton and his Collection X, released by the Vale of Rheidol Railway.

As well as telling Peter’s remarkable story, the book has information and photographs from his private archives, and interviews with people who knew and worked with and for him.

Peter John Rampton was born in 1934 and died in 2019, and was the heir to the Freemans’ mail-order business.

He was well-known among railway enthusiasts for his dedication to rescuing and restoring rare narrow-gauge steam locomotives and coaches from around the world, and for many years, his collection was shrouded in secrecy. It was stored in agricultural sheds on his Surrey farm, and those who knew of its existence nicknamed it Collection ‘X’.

In December 2025, another locomotive from Southern Africa arrived at the Vale of Rheidol Railway to join the late Peter Rampton’s expanding Collection X. This was a 4-4-0 Lawley locomotive No. 266 M’Dundo, which was built by the Falcon Engine and Car Works in Loughborough in 1897 for the Beira Railway in Mozambique.