Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST

Career
Career
Power class	BR: 4F
Nicknames	Austerity
Retired	1959–1984
Disposition	70 preserved, remainder scrapped

Performance figures
Performance figures
Tractive effort	23,870 lbf (106.18 kN)

Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST
Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST
	standard gauge
Driver dia.	4 ft 3 in (1.295 m)
Minimum curve	180 ft (54.86 m)
Wheelbase	11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Length	30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)
Axle load	13 long tons 7 cwt (29,900 lb or 13.6 t)
Loco weight	48 long tons 5 cwt (108,100 lb or 49 t)
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	2 long tons 5 cwt (5,000 lb or 2.3 t)
Water cap.	1,200 imp gal (5,500 L; 1,400 US gal)
Firebox:
• Grate area	16.8 sq ft (1.56 m2)
Boiler	Round top outer firebox, 181 tubes, copper or steel inner firebox
Boiler pressure	170 psi (1.17 MPa)
Heating surface:
• Firebox	88 sq ft (8.2 m2)
• Tubes	873 sq ft (81.1 m2)
Superheater	None
Cylinders	Two, inside
Cylinder size	18 in × 26 in (457 mm × 660 mm)
Valve gear	Stephenson
Valve type	Slide valves

The Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST is a class of

Second World War

, and production continued until 1964 at various locomotive manufacturers.

Background

The 48150 class were built for the

Guest Keen Baldwins Iron & Steel Company

in 1937, being an enlarged version of a design dating from 1923. These developed into the 50550 class of 1941–42, with various modifications.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the

War Department had initially chosen the LMS 'Jinty' 3F 0-6-0T as its standard shunting locomotive, but was persuaded by Hunslet that a simplified version of their more modern 50550 design would be more suitable. The first locomotive was completed at their Leeds

works at the start of 1943.

Construction

Hunslet subcontracted some of the construction to Andrew Barclay Sons & Co., W. G. Bagnall, Hudswell Clarke, Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns and the Vulcan Foundry in order to meet delivery requirements.

After D-Day, they were used on Continental Europe and in North Africa, as well as at docks and military sites in Britain.

A total of 377 had been built for the War Department by 1947 (on orders placed during the war), with two further engines having been built for collieries (without the permission of the Ministry of Supply). When the end of the war reduced the need for locomotives, the military started to review its fleet:

90 locomotives were kept by the military for use on their railways.
75 locomotives were sold to the
J94
.
27 that had been loaned to Nederlandse Spoorwegen were sold to that company in 1947, becoming the NS 8800 class.
11 were loaned to the Nederlandsche Staatsmijnen, who bought 9 of them.

Others were sold for industrial use. A number of those used on the continent are believed to have worked on light and industrial railways in

Chemins de Fer Tunisiens in 1946.^[1]^[2] One was used in Valentigney on the Peugeot industrial branch line.^{[citation needed}

]

Post-war construction

As the final War Department locomotives were being delivered, the National Coal Board was placing orders for identical locomotives to be used at their collieries. Between 1948 and 1964, 77 new "Austerity" locomotives were built for the NCB. A further fourteen engines were ordered in 1952 by the British Army to supplement its 90 existing engines.

The

PT, ordered by the GWR

from Hunslet and partially subcontracted to the Yorkshire Engine Company.

Hunslet rebuilt many NCB locomotives and when the Army started to sell off locomotives again in 1959, they bought 15 examples that were to be rebuilt and sold on. The NCB bought 13 of these, the 14th was sold directly into preservation and the final locomotive was scrapped without being rebuilt. Ultimately from first to last, a total of 485 examples were constructed between 1943 and 1964.

The NCB continued to use Austerities in the 1970s and a small number remained in service until the early 1980s, notably at

blast pipes or Giesl ejectors

to improve their performance and reduce smoke.

Preservation

ST

Austerity WD75008 takes on water from the water tower at Peterborough Nene Valley on the Nene Valley Railway

Seventy Austerities, sometimes referred to as 'Buckets', have been preserved on heritage railways, many in working order. Several have been painted as LNER Class J94s to represent mainline rather than industrial use. During the "Rocket 150" celebrations in 1979, NCB Bold Colliery "Austerity" No. 7 Robert also participated in the cavalcade of locomotives at Rainhill. Enthusiasts often refer to them by the nickname of "Bucket".^[3]

Not all have survived intact; the boiler of RSH 7135 of 1944 was used on the replica

T Thomas the Tank Engine lookalike, and another one into Douglas, also from The Railway Series

.

Models

The Hunslet "Austerity" was produced as a model by

00 gauge. The Kitmaster toolings were sold to Airfix in 1962 and later Dapol in 1981 when Airfix stopped production of model railway items; Dapol continued to use the Kitmaster toolings until they were destroyed by a fire at Dapol's Winsford headquarters in 1994. Dapol also produced a ready-to-run model of these locomotives; this tooling was sold in 1996 to Hornby

who have continued to produce the "Austerity" as both the J94 class and in various industrial liveries.

N gauge

.

DJmodels also produced J94 and austerity tanks in 00 gauge in a variety of liveries including BR as well as several industrial liveries.[4] This model has since become part of the EFE Rail range.