Steam Trains and Engines

We have seen how during the First World War the Great Central Railway 2-8-0 was chosen for war service with the R.O.D. A similar course was taken at the beginning of the Second World War when it became necessary to provide the War Department with locomotives for service overseas, and the choice at first fell on the Stanier-built 2-8-0 freight engines of the L.M.S. A number of these were sent to Persia and Egypt, proving very satisfactory, but it was realised that as the war progressed more and more engines would be required to replace those destroyed as the Allies advanced.

It was, therefore, decided to design a completely new locomotive which could be produced cheaply in large numbers, and which would be suitable for operation in almost any part of the world. Mr. R, A. Riddles, who later became Mechanical Engineer of the Railway Executive, was responsible for the new design, and early in 1943 the prototype appeared. It was a 2-cylinder 2-8-0, stark and almost ugly in appearance, but of great simplicity requiring the minimum of maintenance. With 4 ft. 8i in. wheels, the tractive effort of over 34,000 Ib. was greater than that of the Stanier machine despite a weight of only 70 tons, and after a short trial period mass-production commenced, in railway workshops and by private builders.

Many hundreds of these locomotives were sent overseas and saw service in Europe, the Middle East and the Far East; eventually the survivors began to return to this country and by 1950 over seven hundred of them, and twenty-five almost identical 2-10-Os, had been bought by British Railways. Many are still in service, working freight trains on all Regions; our illustration shows No. 90006 on a mineral train near Hessle Quarry.