14th March 2023: Around the World with 155 Hunslet 4-6-0Ts, by Kim Winter

War Department Light Railways 4-6-0T No. 303 (Hunslet 1215 of 1916), as restored by the War Office Locomotive Trust, on its '(Re-)Commissioning Day', 8th July 2018 at Statfold Barn. Image Credit: Kim Winter.

These 155 Hunslet engines were built for WW1 to a 1905 design for the Empire, with a further 8 post war. The War Office Locomotive Trust, whose objective is the three R’s of Restoration, Remembrance and Recreation, has been restoring one of them, Hunslet 1215. The engine is currently at the Apedale Railway. As most of them were used in the First World War on light railways behind the trenches, it will carry a plaque commemorating this. Lottery funding has helped with the restoration of the boiler; there have also been grants from other funding bodies and individuals.

Kim went on to tell us where the other 154 engines have been identified. For some there were pictures, and some were from records and a few were found. Argentina had 35 and Australia 17, Brazil 6.In France, Germany and Hungary they were used post war for light railways. Elsewhere, in some cases there were photos, in others perhaps just the remains, or known scrapping. One place that interested your scribe was Egypt and Palestine, as one of our wider family was killed in Palestine fighting the Turks. (Rob Burridge)