WD AUSTERITY 2-10-0

The War Department (WD) '"Austerity" 2-10-0' is a class of heavy freight steam locomotive that was introduced in 1943.

Contents

Background

Post-war service

Netherlands

Great Britain

Greece

Preservation

External links

Background

The Austerity 2-10-0 was based on the Austerity 2-8-0, and was designed to have interchangeable parts by R.A. Riddles. It had a parallel boiler and round-topped firebox. They were the first 2-10-0 locomotives to work in Great Britain, and the first major class of ten -coupled engines — they had been preceded by two 0-10-0 locomotives; the Great Eastern Railway's Decapod and the Midland Railway's Lickey Banker.
Two batches were built by the North British Locomotive Company, the first batch of 100 introduced in 1943/1944 and the second batch of 50 in 1945. 20 of the first batch were sent to the Middle East. During running-in they worked in Britain, but their length made them unsuitable. Most saw service with the British Army in France after D-Day.
The 2-10-0 wheel arrangement was later used by Riddles when he designed the BR standard class 9F.

Post-war service

After the war the 150 locomotives were distributed as follows, the majority going to the Netherlands:

No. of engines	Country	Company	Class
103	Netherlands	Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)	NS Series 5000II
25	Great Britain	British Railways (BR)	BR ex-WD Austerity 2-10-0
16	Greece	Hellenic State Railways (SEK)	SEK Class Λβ
4	Syria	Chemins de Fer Syriens (CFS)	CFS Class 150.6
2	Great Britain	Longmoor Military Railway (LMR)

Netherlands

In 1946, the Netherlands bought those in continental Europe. They formed the NS Series 5000II, and were numbered 5001-103. They had a short working life, the last being withdrawn in 1952.

Great Britain

After the war, the British Transport Commission bought 25 locomotives. Numbered 90750-74, they were mostly used in Scotland and were all withdrawn between 1961 and 1962.
Two, 600 ''Gordon'' and 601 ''Kitchener'' were sent to the Longmoor Military Railway. ''Gordon'' survived until closure of the LMR in 1969 and is now preserved.

Greece

16 of the 20 Middle East locomotives went to Greece, where the formed SEK Class Λβ, numbers Λβ951-66.

Preservation

600 ''Gordon'' has survived and has been steamed on the Severn Valley Railway, though as of 2005 it is out of service. Two more have been repatriated from Greece. One has been numbered 90775, one higher than the last BR engine, and has carried the name ''Studee''. The other is WD No. 73672 which has been named ''Dame Vera Lynn''.
WD 73755 (NS 5085) survives in the Dutch Railway Museum (Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum) in Utrecht. It carried the nameplate ''Longmoor'', after the Royal Engineer's base at Longmoor, with the coat of arms of the Royal Engineers above. It reads:

The 1000th

British built freight locomotive

ferried to Europe since 'D' Day

Locomotive No. 73755 ...???... 1943

Longmoor

Numbers					Name	Location
WD	NS	SEK	BR	LMR
73651	-	-	-	600	''Gordon''	Severn Valley Railway, England
73652	-	Lb951	90775 ★	-	''Sturdee'' ★	North Norfolk Railway, Norfolk, England
73672	-	Lb960	-	-	''Dame Vera Lynn'' ★	North Yorks Moors Railway, Yorkshire, England; back from the East Lancashire Railway, Lancs. England.
73677	-	Lb962	-	-	-	Greece, operational
73682	-	Lb964	-	-	-	Greece, operational
73684	-	Lb966	-	-	-	Greece, static exhibit
73755	5085	-	-	-	''Longmoor''	Nederlands Spoorwegmuseum, Utrecht, Netherlands

External links

★ http://www.winwaed.com/rail/LNER/locos/O/WD_Austerity.shtml