HUDSWELL CLARKE


A typical Hudswell Clarke Diesel Locomotive from the 1950s

'Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited' (HCCL) was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

Contents
History
Surviving Locomotives
Military engineering
Preservation
See also
References
External links

History


The company was founded as 'Hudswell and Clarke' in 1860. In 1870 the name was changed to 'Hudswell, Clarke and Rogers'. There was another change in 1881 to 'Hudswell Clarke and Company'. The firm became a limited company in 1899.
The locomotive part of the business is now part of the Hunslet Engine Company. Locomotive-building was always only one part of a diverse product inventory that included underground diesel-powered mining locomotives, hydraulic pit-props and related mining equipment.

Surviving Locomotives


gauge 0-4-2ST ''No. 4'' preserved at the Puffing Billy Railway


★ 0-6-0 for Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, built 1913, No. 1026, preserved at Fawley Hill Railway

★ 0-6-0WT for War Department Light Railways, built 1914-1918, order sub-contracted from Robert Hudson Ltd

★ 0-6-0 Tank No. S100, preserved at Chasewater Railway

★ 0-6-0 Saddle Tank No. 431, preserved at Chasewater Railway

★ 1931 ''Neptune'' and 1932 ''Triton'', narrow gauge steam outline diesels on Scarborough North Bay Railway

★ Diesel locomotives for the Sierra Leone Government Railway, supplied between 1954 and 1961.

★ British Rail Class D2/7

★ British Rail Class D2/12

★ No.38 0-6-0T, awaiting restoration at Tanfield Railway

★ 0-6-0T no. MSC 67, preserved at Middleton Railway

★ Irwell 0-4-0ST,being restored at Tanfield Railway

★ Renishaw Iron Works No.6 0-6-0 ST,preserved at Tanfield Railway

Military engineering


A Blue Danube bomb at 24 ft long x 62 inches diameter. It was known to the RAF as Bomb, Aircraft, HE 10,000 lb MC. Released from 45,000 ft at 500 knots (930 km/h) its max velocity reached 2480 ft/s (Mach 2.2). It bears a likeness to the Tallboy and Grand Slam earthquake bombs of WW2 designed by Barnes Wallis, and that is not surprising since archives show that Wallis was retained as a consultant on the design of Blue Danube

A Red Beard tactical atomic bomb on its bomb trolley awaiting loading into a Canberra bomber. The perforated baffles were a feature to reduce bomb bay buffetting when the Canberra bomb doors opened, and were not needed on other aircraft. Red Beard was known to the RAF as Bomb, Aircraft, HE 2'000 lb MC, although its actual weight was 1650 lb. It was deployed on a wide variety of aircraft of the RAF and Royal Navy, being stockpiled in the UK, Cyprus, Singapore and afloat on carriers.

During World War II the company diversified into armaments, as did so many other engineering companies. In the post-war period Hudswell, Clarke and Co Ltd (its full title, and note the comma) was closely involved in many secret programmes, including the British nuclear weapon programme. The airframe for the first British nuclear bomb, Blue Danube was manufactured by Hudswell Clarke at its Roundhay Road, Leeds, plant where this writer was employed as a design engineer. The airframe for Red Beard, the second generation tactical nuclear bomb, followed with that for Violet Club, the Interim Megaton Weapon; and there were many other projects. All the bombs detonated at the Christmas Island H-bomb tests were contained in airframes designed and built by Hudswell Clarke. The company were also major contributors to other military projects, eg. the Centurion main battle tank conversion into an armoured bridgelayer, that served with the British Army for many years. The contraction of defence manufacturing in the mid-1960s contributed to the sale and demise of the company.

Preservation


Locations of preserved Hudswell Clarke locomotives in the United Kingdom include:

★ Chasewater Railway

★ Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway

★ Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

★ Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway

★ East Lancashire Railway

★ Tanfield Railway

See also



★ List of early British private locomotive manufacturers

References


Various public domain files declassified by:

★ Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

★ Ministry of Supply (and successors)

★ Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough
now archived in the Public Record Office, London.

External links



★ Huwood-Hudswell Diesel Mines Locomotives

★ Manchester Ship Canal locomotive 67



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