0-6-0 Steam Locomotives in Great Britain

Class 14 (Locobase 4538)

Obviously a successful design for its intended purpose, this engine served the Canal for 65 years. Its venue included very sharp curves, so the engine's front driving axle moved laterally and the center axle's drivers were flangeless. Richard Drew's photo ([]) shows a classic late 19th-century tank engine. In the 1990s, this image was enhanced when the preserved #14 was repainted blue and decorated with the face of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Class Boston (Locobase 21224)

Data from "Boston" diagram and data; and "A whole life spent on the dock system of the Manchester Ship Canal" on the Keighley & Worth Valley website at [], last accessed 19 November 2024. See also "Manchester Ship Canal Company", on the Transports of Delight website, at [], last accessed 17 November 2024.

The MSCC served the 36-mille long canal that opened in 1894 as the longest river canal in the world; its several locks lifted river traffic 60 ft (18.3 metres) at its maximum. According to the 2011 transportsofdelight account: "The ship canal took six years to complete at a cost of just over £15 million, equivalent to about £1.65 billion in 2011.The Panama Canal would only be slightly longer when it opened 20 years later.

It was only fitting that the railway that ran along the canal's northern bank would eventually lay 230 miles of track on which 75 locomotives hauled freight in many of the 2,500 goods wagons. According to the Keighly & Worth Valley heritage railway's description of the 31 Hamburg. "Most of the engines were one of two versions of the standard industrial tank-type built by Hudswell, Clarke & Co. Ltd." This entry shows the short Canal, so called for its lesser water capacity.

The entire stud served the MSCR for decades. When the 31 was withdrawn from service, it operated in heritage service for a while before being put on display because it was not powerful enough to handle K&WV's increased traffic.

Decades later, On 29 November 2023, Russell Newman posted the following on steamlocomotive.info ([]): "In a surprise move and after many years on display having not steamed and operated since the late 1970s or early 1980s, the former Manchester Ship Canal, Hudswell Clarke built 0-6-0T (Works No. 679) No. 31 "Hamburg" has a new owner, and has been taken out of the Exhibition Shed at Oxenhope and been moved to the main shed and workshops at Haworth on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway for a full overhaul back into steam again, as work is underway stripping down the locomotive for examining and preparing for its overhaul. "