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Locomotives From USA in the UK
Brock has a follow-up question to one he asked a little while ago:
“I asked a question about if rolling stock or locomotives from the USA were ever in the UK. I got an answer and was told that The US may have sold The UK locomotives before The US joined WWII. Thank you, I have found this is true. I am now wondering what type of locomotives were sold and were they repainted? Thanks.”
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LionelO gauges tin plate
Available pre war, 1939.
My cousin had one
It had 3rd fail center pick up comparable with Hornby coarse O gauge
which used 20v ac supply system.
Baldwin sold some 2-6-0s to a couple of British railways about 110 years ago – the Midland & the Great Northern, possibly others. They didn’t last long, about 10 years. Two types of loco were built in 1942-5 that were used in UK, the S160 2-8-0 and the S100 0-6-0T. After being used on British Railways, all the S100s were sent to the European mainland after D-Day, along with many of the S100s. However, the Southern Railway acquired about 12 of the S100s and modified them for use in Southampton Docks. Some of them remained with the SR and its successor, British Railways, until about 1965. A few are now owned by (and sometimes operated by) preserved railways, along with some Yugoslavian “copycat” versions.
Esso had a small rod-coupled B-B diesel electric shunter (“switcher”) at its Fawley Refinery (I think) that has also been preserved.
The Steel Company of Wales had some Bo-Bo diesel switchers at its Margam plant in Port Talbot.
The S160s remained USATC property throughout their short time in the UK, and were lettered as such; I believe they were in a mid-grey livery with black smokebox. I suspect the same is true of the S100s until at least the end of WWII (though Wikipedia (q.v.) says they were black), but those acquired by the Southern Railway were (I believe) painted black & lettered “SOUTHERN” in the SR’s “Sunshine” style of lettering. After nationalisation in 1948, this was replaced by “BRITISH RAILWAYS”, again in ex-Southern Railway “Sunshine” lettering or in BR Gill Sans typeface in white paint. This lettering was subsequently replaced by the first BR emblem (sometimes called “Lion on a Unicycle”, then by the second emblem (aka “Ferret & Dartboard”); all of these variants were on the same basically black livery. In the 1960s, several were taken out of capital stock & were transferred to Engineers’ Departmental Stock; they were repainted in ex-Southern Railway malachite green and retained the second BR emblem. Two were given nameplates bearing the names of a former chief mechanical engineer (“MAUNSELL” & “WAINWRIGHT”). These two locomotives were then stationed at Ashford locomotive, carriage & wagon works for a couple of years before being moved on.
At least one example is supposed to have been used by the National Coal Board at a colliery in North East England; I do not know whether it came from BR or from the USATC via the pre-nationalisation coal company – or whether this is a complete fiction. One for the preserved ex-SR examples was painted in NCB black for a short time to represent it.