Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn Works No 7667 S&L No 56 0-6-0ST

Robert Stephenson Hawthorn 7667 Nottingham Heritage Centre March 2011.jpg

This locomotive was built in 1950 by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn for Stewart & Lloyds steelworks at Corby in Northamptonshire.

Immediately after the Second World War Stewarts & Lloyds began a process of improving the ironstone branches serving the large iron and steel plant at Corby. One outlying ironstone pit at Harringworth was isolated from the main system, and ore from it had to be conveyed over a stretch of the LMSR. To obviate this the company extended their own system of quarry lines to reach Harringworth, and for this long-haul traffic they ordered seven powerful saddle tanks to their own detailed requirements.

This locomotive was one of that batch of seven locomotives (Works Nos 7667-7673) that was delivered to Stewart & Lloyds and became S&L 56-62. This locomotive became S&L No 56.

Two further locomotives (Works Nos 7761 & 8050) were built in 1954 and in 1958 bringing the class total to nine engines.

They became known as Uglies due to their short saddle tanks and larger fireboxes. These give them a somewhat ungainly appearance, but they are a more powerful locomotive than the Hunslet Austerities.

	Austerity – J94	Ugly

Weight	48t 5cwt	53t 0cwt
Driving Wheels	4ft 3ins	4ft 0ins
Boiler Pressure	170psi	180psi
Cylinders	Inside – 18in x 26in	Inside – 18in x 26in
Tractive Effort	23,870lbf	26,850lbf

All of the locomotives of this class were withdrawn from service in 1969 when they were replaced by diesel traction. Five of the nine locomotives have since been preserved – Works Nos 7667, 7668, 7671, 7673 and 7761.

7667 moved to Rolvenden on the Kent & East Sussex Railway in 1972 and was in service there from 1976 until 1980.

In 1984 the locomotive moved to the newly opened North Woolwich Old Station Museum. It remained there on static display until the Museum closed in 2006.

The locomotive then moved to the Great Central Railway at Ruddington where it was returned to steam in December 2008.

The locomotive is currently stored awaiting an overhaul.

At the end of 2018 it was revealed that the locomotive had been given by its owner to the East Midland Railway Trust which is the charity behind the Great Central Railway (Nottingham).