Yeo was one of three narrow gauge 2-6-2T steam locomotives built by Manning Wardle

Manning Wardle

Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.- Precursor companies :The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, in Holbeck, Leeds,...

 in 1898 for the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway

Lynton and Barnstaple Railway

The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track narrow gauge railway slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although opened after the 1896 Light Railways Act came into force,...

. Following the railway's closure in 1935 it was scrapped.

Yeo, like all the locomotives on the L&B, was named after a local river with a three-letter name, in this case the River Yeo

River Yeo (Barnstaple)

The River Yeo is a tributary of the River Taw in Devon, England, sometimes known as the Barnstaple Yeo, which enters the Taw at Barnstaple. It is one of several rivers of the same name in Devon, including another tributary of the Taw, the Lapford Yeo....

.

This naming tradition has been continued in the 21st Century, with Lyd (a replica of Lew, the fourth locomotive built to this basic design) operational on the Ffestiniog Railway

Ffestiniog Railway

The Ffestiniog Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park....

 and the Welsh Highland Railway

Welsh Highland Railway

The Welsh Highland Railway is a long restored narrow gauge heritage railway in North Wales, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass. At Porthmadog it connects with the Ffestiniog Railway...

. It had been intended that Lyd would receive Yeo's original chimney (which survived on a steamroller for 62 years) but it was found to be too corroded for further use.

The naming tradition has also been applied to a Kerr Stuart

Kerr Stuart

Kerr, Stuart and Company Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer from Stoke-on-Trent, England.-History:It was founded in 1881 by James Kerr as James Kerr & Company, and became Kerr, Stuart & Company from 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a partner...

 Joffre class locomotive currently running on the revived L&B, which has been named Axe, and a Maffei locomotive named Sid.

A set of frames for a new Yeo were built by Winson Engineering

Winson Engineering

Winson Engineering was a British manufacturer of narrow gauge and miniature railway steam locomotives and rolling stock during the 1990s. It built several new locomotives for heritage railways as well as undertaking major rebuilds of existing locomotives....

 in 2000 and are currently stored waiting for construction to continue when funds are available.

A 7¼ inch (185mm)gauge model was built by Milner Engineering in 1979 and worked in Buckfastleigh before moving to the Gorse Blossom Railway in 1984. In 2009 the loco was purchased by a member of the L&B.

A 12¼ inch (311 mm) gauge model was built by David Curwen in 1978 for the Réseau Guerlédan Chemin de Fer Touristique in Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. When the line closed, it transferred to the Fairbourne Railway

Fairbourne Railway

The Fairbourne Railway is a gauge miniature railway running for from the village of Fairbourne on the Mid-Wales coast, alongside the beach to the end of a peninsula at Barmouth Ferry, where there is a connection with a pedestrian ferry across the Mawddach estuary to the seaside resort of...

in North Wales