Showing posts with label Kerr Stuart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kerr Stuart. Show all posts

Kerr Stuart 4415

Kerr Stuart built 4415, one of the earliest purpose-built diesel locomotives in the world, in 1928 for trials on the Welsh Highland Railway. The locomotive was fitted with a McLaren-Benz diesel engine with mechanical transmission and chain drive. The locomotive was tested on a number of narrow gauge lines in Wales and Northern Ireland before heading to a sugar plantation in Mauritius in 1934.
Manufacturer's photo [1]



Information
Number built: 1
Built: 1928
Builder: Kerr Stuart
Motor: McLaren-Benz 4-cylinder diesel
Power: 60 hp (45 kW)
Wheel arrangementr: 6wDM

The locomotive was fitted with a more powerful McLaren MR4 engine in 1945 and remained in service until 1962, though in latter years mainly as a reserve locomotive. The locomotive was preserved and plinthed in 1971. In 1997 it was repatriated to the UK and work is ongoing to restore it to working order at the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway, the railways 4415 was first used on in 1928.
Cutaway diagram showing the chain drive [1]

View of the chain drive [1]



[1] "Locomotives of the future", Meccano Magazine (January 1929) p. 32

Kerr Stuart 4421

Kerr Stuart was a locomotive manufacturer based in Glasgow and Stoke-on-Trent which started in the 1880s. The company went into receivership in the early 1930s, its assets being bought up by Hunslet. Although mostly known for narrow and standard gauge steam locomotives towards the end of Kerr Stuart's existence they also built a number of diesel locomotives of which 4421 was one.

Information
Number built: 2
Built: 1929
Builder: Kerr Stuart
Engine: Mercedes-Benz 6-cylinder diesel
Power: 90 hp (1,305 kW)
Wheel arrangement: 6wDM

4421 was one of two locomotives built in 1929 as demonstrators for industrial use, it worked on a standard gauge branch line of the otherwise narrow gauge Ravenglass & Eskdate Railway from Murthwaite to Ravenglass hauling wagons loaded with crushed granite. When the quarries were closed in 1953 4421 then worked as an industrial locomotive with the National Coal Board being rebuilt with a Dorman diesel engine in 1959. It moved onto Rom River Reinforcement in the late 1960s before finally being preserved at the Foxfield Railway in 1985.

Kerr Stuart diesel locomotives like 4421 used mechanical transmission with a chain final drive. The diesel engine of 4421 had a JAP petrol engine to start it. After being rebuilt with the Dorman engine 4421 had an electric starter.
4421 at the Foxfield Railway