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WD 2-10-0 - 90775
Photo: Ray Jordan)
History
The WD - A Brief History-By Steve Allen
During World War II there
was an urgent need for large freight engines to assist
with the war effort both at home and overseas. Initially
the Railway Executive Committee (REC) considered
perpetuating the Great Central 2-8-0 ROD design of the
First World War, but instead opted for the LMS 8F 2-8-0 as
the standard locomotive and 849 were built by both private
builders and at the works of the big four resulting in LMS
engines emerging from Swindon, Doncaster and Brighton.
Many of the locomotives built saw overseas service with
the War Department (WD), many never returning home, and
even today some are still extant in Turkey, Iraq, and
possibly lran.
As the war ground on, and materials became scare, the
thoughts of the REC Chief Mechanical Engineer R A Riddles
turned to the production of a simplified 8F. His resultant
Ministry of Supply 2-8-0 design was faster to build and of
more simple construction using, as it did, fabricated
components instead of heavy expensive castings and cast
iron in place of steel for items such as wheel centres. In
total 935 of these rugged engines were built by North
British Locomotive Co, Glasgow (NBL) and Vulcan Foundry
Ltd (WD numbers 70800 to 70879 and 77000 to 79312), with
delivery commencing in January 1943. After the war 733 of
them were taken into BR stock (200 had been purchased by
the LNER in 1946, the remainder were previously loaned to
the pre-nationalisation companies and passed into BR
ownership in 1949). Originally classified by the LNER as
class O7, and numbered in the series 3100 to 3199, they
were all eventually renumbered into the BR number series
90000 to 90732. They were used over most of the BR system
except the Southern Region. These engines were common
motive power for the famous Norwich (City) to Norwich
(Thorpe) ‘Round the World’ freights in the 1950s. For such
a large class it is unfortunate and surprising that none
of the BR examples were preserved, the last being
withdrawn in September 1967. A few had remained in use
overseas after the war, which has enabled an example of
the class to be preserved in the UK. This notable survivor
is 79257 (now preserved on the Keighley and Worth Valley
Railway and under restoration as BR 90733).
The 2-8-0s were excellent engines designed for a short but
rugged life expected to be no more than five to ten years.
However, for overseas use, particularly in the Middle East
where the railways were generally of a lighter
construction than in Europe, they were rather heavy with
their 16 1/2 tons axle load and route availability
classification of ‘6’. Thus the WD 2-10-0 design was
conceived.
Using many of the standard components, Riddles took the
basic WD 2-8-0 layout and extended it with an extra
driving wheel set to spread the weight to give an axle
loading of just 131/2 tons. Like his later BR 9Fs, to
enable them to negotiate sharp curves with their long
coupled wheelbase, the centre driving wheels were
flangeless whilst the next pairs had reduced flanges. In
addition Riddles added a wide firebox (similar to those he
later fitted to the large BR Standards). The resulting
locomotive was very similar in appearance to the 2-8-0
types. In total 150 of these engines were built by NBL in
two batches. Construction of the first 100 commenced in
December 1943 and the other 50 were produced in 1945 (WD
numbers 73650 to 73799). For use at home and overseas the
engines were fitted with both air and vacuum brakes.
Of the original 100, one was allocated to the Longmoor
Military Railway (now preserved as WD600 Gordon), and 20
were shipped out to the Middle East. Another 13, and later
20 from the second batch of 50, where placed on loan with
the LNER. All of these were allocated to March depot,
although occasionally they moved to other sheds in the GE
and GN districts. The LMS received the remaining engines
until they were shipped to Europe after D-day in June
1944. In 1946, the Netherlands State Railways (NS)
purchased the 2-10-0s that remained in continental Europe.
Those in Egypt (16 of the 20 Middle East examples) were
sold in 1952 to Hellenic State Railways (SEK) becoming
their class Lb (Lambda-Beta) engines.
On nationalisation in 1948, BR purchased 25 of the 2-10-0s
that were on loan to the LMS but that were still owned by
the WD. These were listed as running stock in December
1948, although most were kept in store until 1949–50.
These 25, numbered in the series 90750 to 90774, were
allocated to ex-LMS sheds in southern Scotland. Being only
a small, non-standard class, they were all withdrawn
comparatively early between 1961 and 1962 thus none were
preserved. However, the WD example Gordon at the Longmoor
Military Railway had become something of a celebrity, and
on closure of the LMR in 1970 was moved to the Severn
Valley Railway on loan from the Army. Whilst a stalwart of
the SVR’s early years, the locomotive is now out of
traffic awaiting a major boiler overhaul. Another early
preserved example was the last built engine of the class
WD 73755 Longmoor which is now restored to its original WD
condition in the Dutch National Railway Museum in Utrecht
having worked on NS after the War.
Meanwhile, from 1952 the 16 Greek engines, by now SEK
Lb951 to 966, were allocated to the Salonika division.
There they were used on main line passenger duties,
including the Athens to Istanbul Express until they were
replaced by diesels in 1967. Amazingly this was not the
end for this resilient class. They were relegated to
secondary work and shunting duties and remained in service
until the late 1970s the last not being taken out of
traffic until 1979! Seven of the engines remained in 1979,
five of which passed into the ownership of SEK’s
successors, Greek State Railways (OSE) as part of their
heritage stock. Two (Lb962 ex-WD 73677 and Lb964 ex-WD
73682) have been restored to full working order at Drama
depot and are used for hauling tourist and enthusiast
specials. Another three remain, nominally ‘on static
display’ though dumped in ‘as withdrawn’ condition would
be a better description. Two (Lb ex- wd 73656 and Lb966
ex- wd 73684) are at Thessaloniki depot whilst the other
(Lb958 ex-WD 73659) is at Acharnai depot in Athens. The
future fate of these latter three is unknown, though it
must be hoped that preservation beckons at some time,
either in Greece or back in the UK.
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