Hudswell Clarke

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited
IndustryRailway Equipment
Founded1860; 164 years ago (1860) in Leeds, United Kingdom
Defunct1972 (1972)[1]
FateAbsorbed
SuccessorHunslet Engine Company
Slough Estates Nº3 of 1924, showing typically Hudswell Clarke style of saddle tank and bunker

Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

History

T
Nunlow

The company was founded as Hudswell and Clarke in 1860. In 1870 the name was changed to Hudswell, Clarke and Rodgers. 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 of 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.[2]

As steam locomotive builders, like many of the smaller builders they specialised in small contractor's and industrial

tank engines, and rarely built anything bigger than an 0-6-0T. They never built any locomotives with superheaters.[3]

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.

Scarborough North Bay Railway

In 1911 Hudswell Clarke entered into an agreement with

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.

In the 1930s the company manufactured narrow gauge steam outline diesel-hydraulic locomotives for use at amusement parks around the country.

Clacton when the exhibition closed.[7]

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
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Lord Mayor
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
431 1895
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in 431 Chasewater Railway
496 1898
ST
 2 ft (610 mm) North Eton Mill 1 Privately owned near
Victoria, Australia
498 1899
ST
 		4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Østre Gasværk (Copenhagen, Denmark) Nr. 1

*Skildpadden

(The Turtle)*

Nordsjællands Veterantog, Græsted, Denmark Painted in red and black livery as delivered in 1899.
499 1899
ST
 		4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Østre Gasværk (Copenhagen, Denmark) Nr. 2 Danmarks Tekniske Museum, Helsingør, Denmark On Static Display outside the museum. Can be seen on the corner of Støberivej and Industrivej. Is painted Black with Red Buffers. Is Technically identical to Nr.1
526 1899
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Hawarden Middleton Railway Donated from Penrhyn Castle in 2024 and now on display in the railway’s ‘Engine House’ museum. Painted in a black livery with red lining. [8]
555 1900
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in
Port Talbot Railway
 26 Severn Valley Railway
Later Great Western Railway No 813, Backworth Colliery No 12 and NCB (Backworth Colliery) No 11. Restored as GWR 813.[9]
573 1900
ST
 3 ft (914 mm) Handyman Statfold Barn Railway

Built for the ironstone quarry at

Alan Keef in 2004, who in turn sold it to the National Railway Museum in July 2008; transferred to Statfold 2021. Some cosmetic restoration undertaken.[10]
Currently in faded green but it is believed her original livery was grey with the name painted in red letters on the side tank.

639 1902
ST
 21+21⁄32 in (550 mm) San Justo Privately owned by Peter Rampton
640 1902
ST
 21+21⁄32 in Santa Ana Privately owned by Peter Rampton
646 1903
ST
 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Wallaroo Phosphate Co,
Australian Portland Cement		 6
Victoria, Australia
679 1903 Canal
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Manchester Ship Canal 31
Hamburg		 Keighley & Worth Valley Railway
680 1903 Canal
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Manchester Ship Canal 32
Gothenburg		 East Lancashire Railway
750 1906 14" cylinder, 20" stroke, 3' 3 1/2" wheels
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Skinner & Holford - Waleswood Colliery, Sheffield Waleswood Peak Rail
Moved from the Chasewater Railway in early 2024 [11]
895 1909
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Fife Coal Company
1026 1913
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons No 31 Fawley Hill Railway, Buckinghamshire
Recorded at Fawley Hill, 18 May 2013.
1067 1914 0-6-0 2 ft 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
ST
 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) Guinness 3 Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
1223 1916
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Vesta Bury Transport Museum
Moved from the Penrhyn Castle Railway Museum in early 2024 [12]
1238 1916
WT
 2 ft 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. The restoration progressed well and the loco was in steam again by mid 2014.
1243 1917
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Port of London Authority Richboro
Aln Valley Railway[13]
1308 1918
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Rhos
Rocks by Rail
1309 1917
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Henry de Lacy II Middleton Railway
1334 1918
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Oxfordshire Ironstone Company Sir Thomas Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
1366 1919
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Renishaw Iron Works No. 6 Tanfield Railway
1369 1919
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Manchester Ship Canal 67 Middleton Railway
1375 1919
WT
 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) War Department Light Railways 3205 Preserved as Pejao at the CP museum at Santarem, Portugal order sub-contracted from
O&K
locos: Fojo, Pedamoura, Choupelo, Pedorido, Sao Domingos
1423 1922
WT
 2 ft Corrimal Colliery (originally National Portland Cement Limited tramway, Tasmania)[14] 'Hudson' Campbelltown Steam & Machinery Menangle, New South Wales
1435 1922
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Nellie Bradford Industrial Museum
1450 1922
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Gladiator
Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
 Rebuilt as Thomas the Tank Engine with side tanks
1464 1921 Sweden
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Manchester Ship Canal 70 Swindon and Cricklade Railway
1539 1924
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Derek Crouch Nene Valley Railway
1542 1924
ST
 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. B10 Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society, New Zealand
1544 1924
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Slough Estates Ltd. No. 3 Middleton Railway
framless
framless
[15]
1555 1926 0-6-0 2 ft Goondi Mill 6 Allambi Private Railway,
Victoria, Australia
1559 1925
ST
 2 ft Pleystowe Mill 4
Melbourne, Australia
1582 1926
ST
 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Rotorua Ngongotaha Railway, New Zealand [16]
1631 1930
WT
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in 5
1632 1929
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Patricia Bygones Museum, Torquay
1643 1930
WT
 2 ft Bronllwyd Statfold Barn Railway
1644 1930
ST
 1,000 mm Riga Sugar Mill, Bihar, India "Lilian" Rewari Steam Centre, India
1672 1937
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Irwell Tanfield Railway
1682 1937
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in
British Sugar Corporation
, Kelham, Newark, Nottinghamshire.		 54
Julia		 Great Central Railway under restoration
1700 1938
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Wissington North Norfolk Railway restored 7/2012
1704 1938
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Nunlow Keighley & Worth Valley Railway
1706 1939 0-6-0 2 ft Victoria Mill Cairns Illawarra Light Railway Museum, Albion Park Rail, New South Wales, Australia
1709 1939
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Slough Estates Ltd. No. 5 Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
1731 1942
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in 20
Jennifer
Aln Valley Railway
1737 1943 Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Nederlandse Spoorwegen 8811 Stoomstichting Nederland,
Rotterdam, Netherlands		 ex WD 5080
1742 1946
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Millom Iron Works, Cumberland MILLOM Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
1776 1944 Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in National Coal Board Harry Horwich, Lancashire ex WD 1499
1782 1945 Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in
War Department
 118
Brussels
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway
 ex WD 1505
1800 1947
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Thomas Nene Valley Railway Name given by creator Wilbert Awdry in 1971.
1821 1948
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in 140
1822 1949
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in S100 Chasewater Railway
1823 1949
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in 38 Tanfield Railway
1838 1950 0-6-0 2 ft Victoria Mill Sydney Privately owned, Mount Molloy, Queensland, Australia
1862 1952
T
 2 ft Macknade Mill 6 Privately owned
Mandalong, New South Wales, Australia
1863 1925 0-6-0 2 ft Macknade Mill 9
Melbourne, Australia
1882 1955
ST
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Mirvale Middleton Railway
1884/55 1944
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in Newmarket Colliery, Wakefield Cathryn Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Converted by the National Coal Board (NCB) to a gas production system which entailed it being provided with an underfeed stoker. This also required the conversion of the chimney to a characteristic conical design that Cathryn now carries. The underfeed stoker has been removed and will not be refitted to the locomotive when the locomotive has been fully restored to working condition.
1885 1955
T
 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in 1 Alston Mid-Suffolk Light Railway
1936 1664 0-6-0 2 ft 21 Anne Elizabeth Edaville Railroad, Carver, Massachusetts, USA

Diesel locomotives

A typical Hudswell Clarke Diesel Locomotive from the 1950s
Standard gauge (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm))
2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge
2 ft (610 mm) gauge
  • Apedale Valley Light Railway
  • Phyllis Rampton Trust

Steam-outline diesel locomotives

20-inch (510 mm) gauge
  • Scarborough North Bay Railway
  • Scarborough North Bay Railway
  • Scarborough North Bay Railway
  • Scarborough North Bay Railway
21-inch (530 mm) gauge

Military engineering

A Blue Danube bomb

During the

Second World War the company was one of many engineering firms that diversified into armaments. After the War, Hudswell Clarke was closely involved in various secret programmes, including the British nuclear weapon programme. The airframe (casing) for the first British nuclear bomb, Blue Danube, was manufactured by Hudswell Clarke at its Roundhay Road plant in Leeds.[24] The Blue Danube was 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 maximum velocity was 2480 ft/s (Mach 2.2). It bears a likeness to the Tallboy and Grand Slam "earthquake" bombs designed by Barnes Wallis
. Wallis was a consultant on the design of Blue Danube.

Canberra bomber

The airframe for

Canberra bomber
; they 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.

Hudswell, Clarke also worked on

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:

United Kingdom

Ireland

New Zealand

Denmark

United States

See also

References

  1. ^ "A brief History of Hudswell, Clarke & Co". Leeds Engine.
  2. ISBN 0-9522592-0-6
    .
  3. ^ Atkins (1999), p. 105.
  4. ^ "Scarborough North Bay Railway - about us". Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  5. ^ "Parklife - Golden Acre Park". 18 January 2006. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  6. ^ "Colin Peake examines the larger gauges in the miniature railway sphere". 31 May 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  7. ISBN 1-902368-09-6
    .
  8. ^ "Leeds-built Hawarden goes 'home' to Middleton Railway". Steam Railway. No. 555. 29 February 2024. p. 30.
  9. ^ "GWR 813 Saddle Tank - SVR Wiki".
  10. ^ Quine, Dan (2016). Four East Midlands Ironstone Tramways Part Four: Scaldwell. Vol. 112. Garndolbenmaen: Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review.
  11. ^ "Nomadic Waleswood moves to new base at Peak Rail". Steam Railway. No. 555. 29 February 2024. p. 30.
  12. ^ "Penrhyn Vesta arrives at Bury Transport Museum". Steam Railway. No. 555. 29 February 2024. p. 31.
  13. ^ "Welcome to the Aln Valley Railway". Alnvalleyrailway.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  14. ^ McCarthy, K (April 1978). "The Corrimal Colliery Railway". Light Railways (60): 23–26.
  15. ^ Slough Estates Ltd, No.3
  16. ^ Maciulaitis, David. "Preserved Industrial Steam Locomotives".
  17. ^ "Preservedshunters.co.uk -> Shunter Details Page". preservedshunters.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  18. ISBN 978-1-901556-53-7
    .
  19. ^ "Preservedshunters.co.uk -> Shunter Details Page". preservedshunters.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  20. ^ "Preservedshunters.co.uk -> Shunter Details Page". preservedshunters.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  21. ^ "Ribble Steam Railway - Hudswell Clarke 1031/1956 'Margaret'". ribblesteam.org.uk. Archived from the original on 10 March 2015.
  22. ^ Photo of Elland No.1 Archived 1 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ "The Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust - 21" Gauge restoration". Archived from the original on 12 September 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  24. ^ Cocroft, Wane. "Fort Halstead, Dunton Green Sevenoaks, Kent: A brief assessment of the role of Fort Halstead in Britain's early rocket programmes and the atomic bomb project". English Heritage. p. 15. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  • Atkins, P. (1999). The Golden Age of Steam Locomotive Building. Atlantic. pp. 66–67.
    ISBN 978-0906899878
    .

Various public domain files declassified by:

now archived in the Public Record Office, London.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hudswell, Clarke and Company.
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