War Department 0-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 651 (Locobase 14589)

Data from DeGolyer, Vol 57, pp.148-163. Works numbers were 46349-46351, 46407, 46433, 46485-46490 in September 1917; 46583-46590, 46672-46675, 46714-46716, 46752-46753, 46796-46799 in October; 46875-46880, 46955-46959, 47068-47072 in November; 47223-47224 in December.

The first twenty locomotives weighed 100,000 lb (45,359 kg) fully loaded and maximum axle loading was fifteen long tons (33,600 lb; 15,240 kg). The engines burned coal bricquettes. Although they had a relatively small boiler, the Baldwins had among the highest calculated tractive efforts.

Half of this batch (25 engines) was given post-World War One to the Belgian National Railways as part of a program to restore their shattered system.

Class WD Austerity Saddle Tanks (Locobase 4539)

Probably based on a series of Hunslet tank engine designs (including the 1898 Manchester Ship Canal engine catalogued in Locobase as #4538), this saddle-tanker first appeared in 1937. Because the design was chosen as the standard World War II-era light-rail shunter -- and because the design suited its duties well -- this model became the most widely used industrial tank loco in the post-World War II era.

Known as "Austerities", they had another nickname. According to [] (4 April 2004), they were known as "Bediron", "...being applied because of the connections with wartime scrap metal drive during which metal bed frames, fences, pots and pans etc., were melted down to provide steel for industry"

Richard Drew ([]) explains wartime circumstances called for "a small powerful shunting locomotive, simple to maintain under adverse circumstances and capable of working over lightly laid track." He adds that the choice of inside cylinders may have been prompted by a desire to protect the running gear from accidental damage. (See also H A Gamble, "The 18in Hunslets", The Industrial Railway Record, No. 23 (February 1969), pp. 2-16, archived at [], last accessed 8 June 2019.

According to the North Norfolk Railway website [] (4 April 2004). "The original specification ...required the loco. to be able to start a 1000 ton train on the level, one of 550 tons on a gradient of 1 in 100 (1%), and one of 300 tons on a 1 in 50 gradient (2%)." At its peak output, the Austerity generated 790 horsepower (589 kW).

NNR adds that the National Coal Board (NCB) modified 50 of its Austerities with Giesl ejectors, so the locomotives had the characteristic narrow, fan-shaped stack. NNR explains the advantages of the Giesl ejector: "The arrangment is said to result in a greater efficiency than an ordinary blast-pipe, as it produces more draught with less back pressure on the cylinders, especially when the engine is working hard. This reduction in back-pressure makes possible an increase in cylinder power for any given steam rate, which results in reduced coal consumption and also permits the use of lower grades of coal as fuel."

Production spanned 25 years with 377 being built during World War II by Hunslet Engine Co. (120), Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn Ltd.(90), W. Bagnall Ltd. (52), Hudswell Clarke & Co. Ltd. (50), The Vulcan Foundry (Newton - Le - Willows) (50), and Andrew Barclay, Son & Co. Ltd. (15).

After the war, many of the War Department locomotives went to other operators. The LNER ran 75 J94s while many more went into industrial service.

Beginning in 1945, Hunslet built 107 Austerities for a variety of industrial customers. The last of these was delivered in 1964.

Some data from [] (viewed 12 October 2004). See also the Lavender Line website [] (accessed 16 January 2006).