Smalley

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The Smalley was a small excavator used on the Deviation. It differs from most small excavators used today by not having drive to either of its two wheels to save costs. It was intended to be towed to the work site after which it moved itself around using the bucket. A fuller description can be found on Wikipedia.[1]

The Deviationists decided they needed a small digger to load skips and a Smalley was the cheapest option to buy new which was felt necessary.

There was no money to buy it so a scheme was thought up using Green Shield stamps which members could collect and then donate to the cause. This was agreed with the Green Shield Company as a “price” in stamp books (6700). The appeal was launched in the FRM 59, winter 1972/3 with the end of the year set as a target. Donations began to pour in (360 by 8 March and 832 by 17 May plus some other stamps and some money). However, this was not nearly enough and with a price rise looming most of the donations so far would have been wiped out. The scheme looked set to fail. Not so!

A Mr. Youell, a director of Stirling Plant Hire heard about the scheme and agreed to loan a brand new one to the railway, the only difference being that he would retain ownership and it would go back to him when it was no longer needed. It had also to carry his company’s name.

It arrived on 20 August 1973.

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