Ruston and Hornsby 223741 (20DL)

Ruston & Hornsby built many 20DLs over a lengthy period. The example here, with the works number 223741 is now preserved at Crich Tramway Museum. The 20DL refers to the power rating (20hp) and DL means narrow gauge. However, 223741 is now a standard gauge locomotive having been converted from 600mm gauge in 1963. A similar locomotive at Crich is 326058.

223741 at Crich

Information
Number built:	1
Built:	1944
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Motor:	Ruston & Hornsby 2VSHL diesel
Power:	20 hp (15 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	4wDM

The locomotive was formerly operated by the Accrington Corporation.

Ruston and Hornsby 326058

The small shunter is a former narrow gauge industrial shunter which worked at the Clay Cross quarry in Crich. After withdrawal it was preserved but did not have to move very far, to the National Tramway Museum at Crich to be exact! The shunter was re-gauged to standard gauge and is used for shunting and as a works vehicle on the museum's tram network.

326058 in a tram shed

Information
Number built:	1
Built:	1952
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Motor:	Ruston & Hornsby diesel
Wheel arrangement:	4wDM

326058 at work helping maintain the overhead lines

Ruston and Hornsby 201970

This is an example of the small narrow gauge (600mm gauge) industrial shunters built by Ruston & Hornsby which used it's 2VTO diesel engine.

201970 at Statfold Barn

Information
Number built:	1
Built:	1940
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Motor:	Ruston & Hornsby 2VTO diesel
Power:	13 hp (9.7 kW
Formation:	4wDM

The locomotive was used by Bierrum & Partners until 1968 when it entered preservation and has had a varied second career for a number of light railways and museums including the Ffestiniog Railway where it was used by the engineers department. It is currently at the Statfold Barn Railway.

Works plate

The cab and controls

The locomotive carries the name Alistair

Ruston and Hornsby 88DS

Ruston & Hornsby began producing these small diesel mechanical shunters in 1942, 254 were eventually built during the 1940s and 1950s [1]. They were mostly sold to industrial users and had sufficient power to shunt short rakes of wagons in smaller industrial and factory networks.

299099/1950 at Tyseley

Information
Number built:	254
Built:	1942-1950s
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Motor:	Ruston 4VPHL diesel
Power:	88 hp (66 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	4wDM

The 88DS was a versatile design, it came with a number of options for gauge and two weights (seventeen and twenty tons). The locomotives usually used compressed air for starting (the air generated using a small Ruston petrol or diesel motor) though electric starting was fitted on some locomotives which needed to operate in flameproof environments. 

Although most 88DS locomotives built were for industrial users, seven were also bought by British Railways' North Eastern Region for it's departmental fleet [2]. These were withdrawn in 1970 [3].

412431/1957 at Peak Rail

Another view of 299099, the small box on the side is the compressed air generator

Rear view of 299099

Another view of 412431

[1] Ray King, British Industrial Diesel Locomotives (Traction & Rolling Stock Advertiser, 2006) p. 33

[2] Paul Smith & Shirley Smith, British Rail Departmental Locomotive 1948-1968 (Ian Allan, 2014) p. 25

[3] Brian Haresnape, Diesel Shunters (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 78

Ruston and Hornsby LSSE/H

Ruston & Hornsby built these diesel shunters for industry in the 1960s in diesel-hydraulic (LSSH) or diesel-electric (LSSE) versions. A modified version of the latter with some extra features for mainline use was bought by British Railways as it's Class 07.

The LSSE/H has a small wheelbase (and could be either be a 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 locomotive depending on the customer's requirements) to cope with the tight curves typically found on industrial railways but be larger and more powerful than the small diesel-mechanical shunter usually found on these lines.

Iris seen at Princes Risborough

Information
Built:	1959-1968
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Motor:	Paxman 6RPHL diesel
Power:	Typically 275 hp (205 kW) though could vary
Wheel arrangement:	0-4-0 or 0-6-0

A number of the shunters were sold to MOD use an example being Iris (RH 459515 / 1961) which once carried the number WD8214. It is now preserved on the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway. A small number now carry TOPS numbers as Class 01/5 - former industrial shunters now used on the main line. One being 01 509 at Chiltern Railway's depot at Aylesbury.

01 509 at Aylesbury

Another view of Iris, in a shed in Chinnor

Ruston and Hornsby RAF Chilmark Diesel-Mechanical Locomotives

RAF Chilmark was a former limestone quarry near Salisbury, Wiltshire used for the storage of RAF equipment and weapons from 1937 to 1995. The base was connected to the railway network and had an extensive 610mm narrow gauge network stretching over fourteen kilometres [1]. The base had a number of locomotives operating on it over the years including some battery electric Baguley-Drewry shunters, some of the earliest were Ruston & Hornsby diesel-mechanical shunters built in 1939-1940.

Information
Built:	1939-40
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Motor:	Ruston 4-cyl diesel
Power:	44 hp (33 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	4wDM

These locomotives were powerful enough to pull two hundred tons on the level and thirty-six tons up a one in thirty slope. Three survived in service until the closure of the base, one being used to haul the fire-fighting train until the 1970s when it was replaced by more modern fire-fighting equipment. At least two have been preserved, RH28 seen below is at Stonehenge Works on the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway.

RH28 at the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway

RH28 is Ruston & Hornsby 200516

RH28 is seen here at Stonehenge Works

Another view of RH28

[1] The Little Trains of Chilmark (Railway Magazine, 1976)

Ruston and Hornsby LAT

Ruston & Hornsby built many of these narrow gauge shunters mostly for industrial users though the most notable example, ZM32 (RH works number 416214 [1]), was bought by British Railways and worked at Horwich Works from 1957 to 1964 on the 457mm gauge line there [2].

Information
Built:	1952-1958
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Motor:	Ruston 2VSHL diesel
Power:	20 hp (15 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	4wDM

The LAT class were fairly simple but sturdy locomotives, diesel mechanical with a chain drive to the wheels. They could be adjusted to a number of different gauges.

A number have been preserved including ZM32 which is now at the Steeple Grange Light Railway in Wirksworth. The locomotive photographed is RH 408430 which worked for Wheatly & Company brick and tile manufacturers in Staffordshire until the late 1970s [3], it is now preserved at the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway and based at Stonehenge Works.

No.27 (RH 408430) preserved at the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway

No. 27 is gauged to 610mm

[1] Paul Smith & Shirley Smith, British Rail Departmental Locomotives 1948-1968 (Ian Allan, 2014) p. 28
[2] Brian Haresnape, Diesel Shunters (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 76
[3] George Edgar, Industrial Locomotives & Railways of the Midlands (Amberley Publishing, 2017) p. 8

Ruston & Hornsby 165 series (including Class D1/3 and Class 97/6)

Ruston & Hornsby built hundreds of small industrial shunters between 1947 and the mid-1960s [1], they were known as the 165 series and had diesel-mechanical and diesel-electric transmission versions and also versions with both 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 wheel arrangements.

Although most went to industrial users two 165DS 0-4-0 shunters were sold to British Railways as the Class DY1, later renamed D1/3 [2]. Incidentally the prototype of this type of shunter was loaned to the LNER for a short period just before nationalisation for testing and evaluation though nothing more came of this at the time. The two D1/3s worked in the Stratford area until withdrawal in the late 1960s. One was preserved along with a good number of ex-industrial 165s which are a common sight on preserved railways.

Information for Class D1/3
Number built:	2
Built:	1956
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Engine:	Ruston 6VPHL diesel
Power:	165 hp (123 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	0-4-0

Five 0-6-0 165DE shunters were also bought for departmental service by BR Western Region's civil engineering department, the first arriving in 1952 and the rest 1959 [3]. These were known as the Class 97/6 [4] and served until the late 1980s and early 90s at locations like Radyr, Taunton, Reading and Swindon [5] mainly shunting long welded rail trains [6]. Three of these locomotives have been preserved.

Former 97/6 PWM654 preserved at the Heritage Shunters Trust, Rowsley South

D2961 at Bridgnorth, SVR

Former BIP Chemicals shunter 31920 (165DM) seen at Highley, SVR

GEC 424841 165DE Roman at Foxfield Railway

Another view of PWM654

[1] Ray Hooley, Engine Production Years <http://www.oldengine.org/members/ruston/Production5.htm>
[2] Brian Haresnape, Diesel Shunters (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 52
[3] Paul Smith & Shirley Smith, British Rail Departmental Locomotives 1948-1968 (Ian Allan, 2014) p. 19
[4] Haresnape, Shunters p. 79
[5] Colin J. Marsden, Departmental Stock (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 108
[6] Heritage Shunters Trust Stock List (2016) p. 12

Class 07 (Ruston & Hornsby 275hp Diesel-Electric)

After the Second World War the Southern Railway bought a number of second hand (ex-US Army) steam tank locomotives for the Southampton Docks, the Class 07 was built in 1962 to replace them. The Class 07 was a compromise between small diesel-mechanical shunters and the larger diesel-electric Class 08/09s, having a small wheel base as needed for sharp curves in the docks but being heavier and more powerful in able to shunt heavy Ocean Liner trains [1][2]. They could also be used for local trip working and were fitted with marker lights for this though they were found to suffer from hot axle boxes if running at speed for extended period and so tended to be restricted to shunting.

Information
Number built:	14
Built:	1962
Builder:	Ruston & Hornsby
Engine:	Paxman 6RPHL Mark III diesel
Power:	275 hp (205 kW)
Wheel arrangement:	0-6-0

The change to container traffic saw the docks area railway system run down, they were redundant by the late 1970s and were withdrawn from BR service in 1977 [3] though a number were sold on for industrial use and one serving in the departmental fleet at Eastleigh Works [4]. Ruston & Hornsby also built a version of the Class 07 for industrial use as the LSSE.

A number have also been preserved.

07 001 at the Heritage Shunters Trust 

2987 in BR days (KD Collection)

Another view of the preserved 07 001

[1] Brian Haresnape, Diesel Shunters (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 73
[2] Heritage Shunters Trust Stock List (2016) p. 9
[3] J.A.M. Vaughan, Diesels on the Southern (Ian Allan, 1980) p. 9
[4] Colin J Marsden, Departmental Stock (Ian Allan, 1984) p. 111