See LNER class J94 for details.
This locomotive was built in 1952 for the Ministry of Defence by the Hunslet Engine Company to the design used to supply to the Ministry of Defence and is thus regarded as an Austerity type locomotive.
It was delivered new to the Longmoor Military Railway in January 1953 and placed in store.
It was later employed at the Army at Bicester as WD 191 Black Knight. It carried this name from June 1956 until May 1959 when it was again placed in store.
In May 1962 it was put into store at No. 1 Engineers Supply Depot, Long Marston, before final transfer in December 1967 to No. 1 Railway Group, Royal Corps of Transport at Shoeburyness.
It only worked at Shoeburyness for only nine months before being put into store again.
It was then sold by the Army and it moved to the Kent & East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) at Rolvenden in February 1972. During its twenty year working life with the Army it had covered 23,178 miles.
The locomotive entered service on the K&ESR in August 1974 as No 23.
In 1977 Dr. John Coiley, then Curator of the National Railway Museum, named the locomotive Holman F. Stephens after the Railway’s engineer and first Managing Director.
It returned to service after its last overhaul in 2004 but is currently stored out of use on the K&ESR.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 