Hudswell Clarke builder's plate from 0-6-0T Nunlow
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
History[]
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Sir William McAlpine 'No.31' returning to its shed after its Centenary Celebrations
The company was founded as Hudswell and Clarke in 1860. In 1870 the name was changed to Hudswell, Clarke and Rogers. There was another change in 1881 to Hudswell, Clarke and Company. The firm became a limited company in 1899.
In 1862, soon after the company had been formed, they were given the initial design work on William Hamond Bartholomew's compartment boats for the Aire and Calder Navigation. The choice of the company may have been influenced by the fact that Bartholomew, the chief engineer for the Navigation, and William Clayton, one of the founders of Hudswell and Clarke, both lived on Spencer Place in Leeds. They produced at least one of the prototype Tom Pudding compartments, but did not get the main contract for their production once the design work had been done.[1]
The locomotive part of the business is now part of the Hunslet Engine Company. Locomotive-building was always only one part of a diverse product inventory that included underground diesel-powered mining locomotives, hydraulic pit-props and related mining equipment.
A typical Hudswell Clarke Diesel Locomotive from the 1950s
In 1911 Hudswell Clarke entered into an agreement with Robert Hudson for the manufacture of narrow gauge locomotives. This arrangement produced sixteen standardised designs, designated 'A' to 'Q', which ranged from four-coupled (0-4-0) 5 hp engines to six-coupled (0-6-0) 55 hp models. The designs were sufficiently flexible to allow for the various track gauges in use. Over the years, 188 locomotives were supplied to these designs.
4-6-2 Triton at Scalby on the Scarborough North Bay Railway
In the 1930s the company manufactured narrow gauge steam outline diesel-hydraulic locomotives for use at amusement parks around the country.[2] In 1931 4-6-2 Neptune was delivered to Scarborough North Bay Railway, followed a year later by 4-6-2 Triton, both being 20 inches (510 mm) gauge. In the same year they supplied a 4-6-4T Robin Hood to Golden Acre Park in Leeds followed by a 4-6-2 May Thompson in 1933.[3] They also supplied 4-6-2 Mary Louise and 4-6-4T Carol Jean to Blackpool Pleasure Beach for use on the 21 inches (530 mm) gauge Pleasure Beach Express in 1933. A fire in 1934 badly damaged Carol Jean so 4-6-2 Princess Royal was ordered as a replacement. They went on to build two more 4-6-2 class locomotives, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose[4] for Billy Butlin to use at the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938 which were then transferred to his holiday camp in Clacton when the exhibition closed.[5]
- 1931 4-6-2 Neptune (for Scarborough North Bay Railway)
- 1932 4-6-2 Triton (for Scarborough North Bay Railway)
- 1932 4-6-4T Robin Hood (for Golden Acre Park, Leeds)
- 1933 4-6–2 May Thompson (for Golden Acre Park, Leeds, renamed Poseiden in 2007)
- 1933 4-6-2 Mary Louise (for Blackpool Pleasure Beach Express)
- 1933 4-6-4T Carol Jean (for Blackpool Pleasure Beach Express)
- 1934 4-6-2 Princess Royal (for Blackpool Pleasure Beach Express)
- 1937 4-6-2 Princess Elizabeth (for Billy Butlin, Glasgow then Clacton when the exhibition closed)
- 1937 4-6-2 Princess Margaret Rose (for Billy Butlin, Glasgow then Clacton when the exhibition closed)
In later years, Hudswell Clarke designed and built diesel locomotives for both main-line and private company use, mainly for use on shunting operations.
Surviving locomotives[]
Steam locomotives[]
| Works No. |
Year | Type | Wheel arrangement |
Gauge | Company | Name or No. |
Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 402 | 1893 | 0-4-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Lord Mayor | ||||
| 431 | 1895 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 431 | Chasewater Railway | |||
| 496 | 1898 | 0-6-0ST | 2 ft (610 mm) | North Eton Mill | 1 | Privately owned, Echuca, Victoria, Australia | ||
| 526 | 1899 | 0-4-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Hawarden | Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum | |||
| 555 | 1900 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Great Western Railway | 813 | Severn Valley Railway |  | |
| 573 | 1900 | 0-4-0ST | 3 ft (914 mm) | Handyman | ||||
| 639 | 1902 | 0-4-2ST | 550 mm (21.65 in) |
Phyllis Rampton Trust | ||||
| 640 | 1902 | 0-4-2ST | 550 mm (21.65 in) |
Phyllis Rampton Trust | ||||
| 646 | 1903 | 0-4-2ST | 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) | Wallaroo Phosphate Co, Australian Portland Cement |
6 | Bellarine Railway, Victoria, Australia | ||
| 679 | 1903 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Manchester Ship Canal | 31 Hamburg |
|||
| 680 | 1903 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Manchester Ship Canal | 32 Gothenburg |
|||
| 750 | 1906 | 0-4-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Waleswood | ||||
| 895 | 1909 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Fife Coal Company | ||||
| 1026 | 1913 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Sir Robert McAlpine | ? | Fawley Hill Railway, Buckinghamshire | Recorded at Fawley Hill, 18th May 2013. | |
| 1067 | 1914 | 0-6-0 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Colonial Sugar Refinery | Homebush | Sucrogen Victoria Mill, Ingham | Delivered to CSR Homebush Mill Mackay, loco number 6. Transferred to CSR Victoria Mill 1922, named Homebush. Preserved in working order 1978. | |
| 1152 | 1919 | 0-4-0ST | 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) | Guinness | 3 | Railway Preservation Society of Ireland | ||
| 1223 | 1916 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Vesta | Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum | |||
| 1238 | 1916 | 0-6-0WT | 2 ft (610 mm) | Ashanti Goldfields Corporation | No. 9 | Moseley Railway Trust | Delivered in 1916 to what is now Ghana for their forestry railway. Crashed into a swamp and killed the driver in 1948, recovered 1996, and returned to the UK in 2008 for restoration. Restoration is now well-progressed and the loco should steam again by 2013/2014 | |
| 1243 | 1917 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Port of London Authority | Richboro | Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway | ||
| 1308 | 1918 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Rhos | Rocks by Rail | |||
| 1309 | 1917 | 0-4-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Henry de Lacy II | Middleton Railway | |||
| 1334 | 1918 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Sir Thomas | ||||
| 1366 | 1919 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Renishaw Iron Works | No. 6 | Tanfield Railway | ||
| 1375 | 1919 | 0-6-0WT | 600 mm (23.625 in) |
War Department Light Railways | 3205 | Preserved as Pejao at the CP museum at Santarem, Portugal | order sub-contracted from Robert Hudson Ltd Worked on the Pejoa Colliery system in Portugal with five O&K locos: Fojo, Pedamoura, Choupelo, Pedorido, Sao Domingos | |
| 1397 | 1919 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Manchester Ship Canal | 67 | Middleton Railway | ||
| 1435 | 1922 | 0-4-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Nellie | Bradford Industrial Museum |  | ||
| 1450 | 1922 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Gladiator | ||||
| 1464 | 1921 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 70 | Avon Valley Railway | |||
| 1539 | 1924 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Derek Crouch | ||||
| 1544 | 1924 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Slough Estates Ltd. | No. 3 | Middleton Railway |  | |
| 1555 | 1926 | 0-6-0 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Goondi Mill | 6 | Allambi Private Railway, Strath Creek, Victoria, Australia | ||
| 1559 | 1925 | 0-4-2ST | 2 ft (610 mm) | Pleystowe Mill | 4 | Puffing Billy Railway, Melbourne, Australia |  | |
| 1582 | 1926 | 0-4-0ST | 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) | Rotorua Ngongotaha Railway, New Zealand | [7] | |||
| 1631 | 1930 | 0-6-0WT | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 5 | ||||
| 1643 | 1930 | 0-6-0WT | 2 ft (610 mm) | Bronllwyd | Statfold Barn Railway | |||
| 1672 | 1937 | 0-4-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Irwell | Tanfield Railway | |||
| 1682 | 1937 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | British Sugar Corporation, Kelham, Newark, Nottinghamshire. | 54 Julia |
Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre | under restoration | |
| 1700 | 1938 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Wissington | north norfolk railway | restored 7/2012 | ||
| 1704 | 1938 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Nunlow |  | |||
| 1706 | 1939 | 0-6-0 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Victoria Mill | Cairns | Illawarra Light Railway Museum, Albion Park Rail, New South Wales, Australia | ||
| 1709 | 1939 | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Slough Estates Ltd. | No. 5 | Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway | ||
| 1731 | 1942 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 20 Jennifer |
||||
| 1737 | 1943 | Austerity 0-6-0T | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Nederlandse Spoorwegen | 8811 | Stoomstichting Nederland, Rotterdam, Netherlands |
ex WD 5080 |
| 1742 | 1946 | 0-4-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | |||||
| 1776 | 1944 | Austerity 0-6-0T | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | National Coal Board | Harry | Horwich, Lancashire | ex WD 1499 |
| 1782 | 1945 | Austerity 0-6-0T | 0-6-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | War Department | 118 Brussels |
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway | ex WD 1505  |
| 1800 | 1947 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Thomas | ||||
| 1821 | 1948 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 140 | ||||
| 1822 | 1949 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | S100 | Chasewater Railway | |||
| 1823 | 1949 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 38 | Tanfield Railway | |||
| 1838 | 1950 | 0-6-0 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Victoria Mill | Sydney | Privately owned, Mount Molloy, Queensland, Australia | ||
| 1862 | 1952 | 0-6-0T | 2 ft (610 mm) | Macknade Mill | 6 | Timbertown, Wauchope, New South Wales, Australia | ||
| 1863 | 1925 | 0-6-0 | 2 ft (610 mm) | Macknade Mill | 9 | Puffing Billy Railway, Melbourne, Australia | ||
| 1882 | 1955 | 0-4-0ST | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | Mirvale | Middleton Railway | |||
| 1885 | 1955 | 0-6-0T | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 1 Alston | Mid-Suffolk Light Railway | |||
| 0-6-0 | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 21 Anne Elizabeth | Edaville Railroad, Carver, Massachusetts, USA |
Diesel locomotives[]
- Standard gauge (4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm))
- British Rail Class D2/7 (none belived to be preserved)
- British Rail Class D2/12 (one preserved)
- 0-4-0DM D577/1932 Mary at Middleton Railway
- 0-4-0DM Southam (works no. D604) was outside the Great Western Country Pub and Restaurant, Bishop's Itchington, near Southam, Warwickshire[8] in 2006 but has since left for an unknown destination
- 0-4-0DM Southam 2 (works no. D625) at Leeds Industrial Museum[9]
- 0-4-0DM Mighty Atom (works no. D628) at Ribble Steam Railway[10]
- 0-4-0DM Sparky (works no. D629) at Ribble Steam Railway[11]
- 0-6-0 No. MSC 4001 Alnwick Castle (works no. D10** of 1958) at Winfield's Store, Haslingden, Lancs
- 0-6-0 No. MSC 4002 Arundel Castle (works no. D1076 of 1958) at East Lancs Railway
- 0-4-0DM D631/1946 Carroll at Middleton Railway
- 0-6-0 D707 No. 21 at the Rutland Railway
- 0-4-0DM Elland No.1 (works no. D1153) at Mangapps Railway Museum, Burnham-on-Crouch[12]
- 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge
- Eight 145HP, 20 ton 0-8-0 locomotives, and twenty-four 225HP, 29 ton 2-8-2 locomotives, for the Sierra Leone Government Railway, supplied between 1954 and 1961. (not necessarily preserved)
- 2 ft (610 mm) gauge
- 4wDM No. D564 (built 1930) at the Phyllis Rampton Trust
Steam-outline diesel locomotives[]
- 20 inches (510 mm) gauge
- 4-6-2 Neptune (1931), Scarborough North Bay Railway
- 4-6-2 Triton (1932), Scarborough North Bay Railway
- 4-6-4T Robin Hood (1932), Scarborough North Bay Railway
- 4-6-2 Poseidon (1933), Scarborough North Bay Railway
- 21 inches (530 mm) gauge
- 4-6-2 Mary Louise (1933), Pleasure Beach Express, Blackpool
- 4-6-4T Carol Jean (1933), Pleasure Beach Express, Blackpool
- 4-6-2 Geoffrey Thompson OBE (1934), Pleasure Beach Express, Blackpool
- 4-6-2 Princess Elizabeth (1938), Midland Railway - Butterley undergoing restoration.[13]
- 4-6-2 Princess Margaret Rose (1938), Midland Railway - Butterley
Military engineering[]
A Blue Danube bomb at 24 ft long x 62 inches diameter. It was known to the RAF as Bomb, Aircraft, HE 10,000 lb MC. Released from 45,000 ft at 500 knots (930 km/h) its max velocity reached 2480 ft/s (Mach 2.2). It bears a likeness to the Tallboy and Grand Slam earthquake bombs of the Second World War designed by Barnes Wallis, and that is not surprising since archives show that Wallis was retained as a consultant on the design of Blue Danube
A Red Beard tactical atomic bomb on its bomb trolley awaiting loading into a Canberra bomber. The perforated baffles were a feature to reduce bomb bay buffetting when the Canberra bomb bay doors opened, and were not needed on other aircraft. Red Beard was known to the RAF as Bomb, Aircraft, HE 2'000 lb MC, although its actual weight was 1650 lb. It was deployed on a wide variety of aircraft of the RAF and Royal Navy, being stockpiled in the UK, Cyprus, Singapore and afloat on carriers.
During World War II the company diversified into armaments, as did so many other engineering companies. In the post-war period Hudswell, Clarke and Co Ltd was closely involved in various secret programmes, including the British nuclear weapon programme. The airframe for the first British nuclear bomb, Blue Danube was manufactured by Hudswell Clarke at its Roundhay Road, Leeds, plant. The airframe for Red Beard, the second generation tactical nuclear bomb, followed with that for Violet Club, the Interim Megaton Weapon; and there were many other projects. All the bombs detonated at the Christmas Island H-bomb tests were contained in airframes designed and built by Hudswell Clarke. The company were also major contributors to other military projects, e.g. the Centurion main battle tank conversion into an armoured bridgelayer, that served with the British Army for many years. The contraction of defence manufacturing in the mid-1960s contributed to the sale and demise of the company.
Preservation[]
Locations of preserved Hudswell Clarke locomotives include:
- Armley Mills Industrial Museum Leeds
- Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway
- Chasewater Railway
- East Lancashire Railway
- Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
- Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
- Middleton Railway Trust, Hunslet, West Yorkshire
- Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre
- Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society, New Zealand
- Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum
- Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway
- Swindon and Cricklade Railway
- Tanfield Railway
See also[]
- List of early British private locomotive manufacturers
References[]
- ↑ Harold Crabtree (1993). in Mike Clarke: Railway on the Water. The Sobriety Project, 24. ISBN 0-9522592-0-6.
- ↑ "Scarborough North Bay Railway - about us". Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
- ↑ "Parklife - Golden Acre Park" (18 January 2006). Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
- ↑ "Colin Peake examines the larger gauges in the miniature railway sphere" (31 May 2008). Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
- ↑ Scott, Peter (2001). A History of the Butlin's Railways: The Story of Billy Butlin's Amusement Park and Holiday Camp Miniature Railways, Including Other Associated Railways and Transport Systems. Peter Scott. ISBN 1-902368-09-6.
- ↑ Slough Estates Ltd, No.3
- ↑ Maciulaitis, David. "Preserved Industrial Steam Locomotives".
- ↑ http://preservedshunters.co.uk/psh_shunter.php?class=104&loco=HC.D604
- ↑ Handbook 15EL, Industrial Railway Society 2009, ISBN 978-1-901556-53-7
- ↑ http://preservedshunters.co.uk/psh_shunter.php?class=104&loco=HC.D628
- ↑ http://preservedshunters.co.uk/psh_shunter.php?class=104&loco=HC.D629
- ↑ Photo of Elland No.1
- ↑ "The Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust - 21" Gauge restoration". Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
Various public domain files declassified by:
- Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
- Ministry of Supply (and successors)
- Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough
now archived in the Public Record Office, London.
External links[]
