Shelton Iron & Steel Ltd 0-4-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class unknown (Locobase 8016)

Data from [], a reprint of the Industrial Railway Record's article by Allan C Baker on The End of An Era at Shelton Bar (No. 50, pp 102-108 - October 1973). See also [], the Foxfield Light Railway's Virtual Stocklist entry for the Hawarden.

Bagnall produced engines from stock for industrial applications for years and this design was supplied to several users in the late 1930s.

Baker's list of locomotives built to the same design includes:

Works # Del Destination Year ret Scrapped

2590 12/37 Wern Tarw Colliery of S Wales Coalite Co 1968 8/68

2606 5/39 Royal Arsenal, Woolwich; Coltness Iron 10/57 1963 9/63

2607 5/39 Butterley Co #50; Bailey Brook Colliery 1964 6/64

2619 9/39 Butterley Co #51; Bailey Brook Colliery;Ollerton 1968 1968

2620 9/40 ICI Ltd, Middleton; Trimpell Ltd 1966 9/66

2622 1940 Butterley Co directly to Bailey Brook Colliery 1962 3/62

2623 11/40 Shelton I & S; Foxfield Light Rwy 1972 extant

Shelton I & S (aka Shelton Bar, from Shelton Bar Iron Co - an earlier title) were looking for a new engine for their steelyard operations and Bagnalls 2623 - later named Hawarden -- was available on six-month notice. It was the last of the 7 locomotives and the sister to the 3 locomotives delivered to Butterley Company in 1939 and 1940. Foxfield's account notes the urgency of the requirement for strong, reliable locomotives to work in the steel mills that were supplying British war requirements. Baker observes that the press of time and scarcity of materials led to the 2623 being delivered with a steel firebox. A 1952 rebuilding substituted a proper copper firebox.

Baker notes that the two main reasons for 2623's survival long enough to begin museum-road work were the unreliability of the early shunting diesels and the Shelton Works' repair shops, which several times rebuilt a clapped-out Hawarden to like-new condition. Revealing that he was quite familiar with Hawarden at Shelton, Baker comments:"It was on this duty that she became a great favourite of mine, and I recall many a Saturday morning spent on her footplate."

When the decision at last was made in 1972 to scrap the Hawarden, Baker and others managed to do the deal that brought the little saddle-tanker to Foxfield. More than 30 years later, the locomotive still operated for that line.