The early 1950s were good for Britain’s commercial locomotive manufacturers. Their order books
were healthy, with contracts with customers both at home and abroad.
Our image from 1953 depicts one of a pair of 3ft 6in (106.68cm) gauge 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical
shunting locomotives built by the Vulcan Foundry, Newton-le-Willows, for the Mount Lyell Mining
Co, Tasmania.
Railway enthusiasts might well recognise the similarity between the Mount Lyell loco and the British
Railways standard gauge 0-6-0DMs D2200-D2340 built between 1952 and 1961 (later designated
class 04). All the locos of this design were equipped with a Gardner 8L3 4-stroke engine delivering
204 hp (152 kW at 1200rpm). The main design difference is that because of their gauge the Mount
Lyell locos had outside frames.
However, the design didn’t originate from Vulcan Foundry. It was a Drewery Car Co design dating
back to the late 1940s. However, at the time Drewery didn’t have its own manufacturing capability
and sub-contracted work to Vulcan Foundry as well as Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn.
Drewery’s prototype was built in 1947 by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn and allocated to Gorton on
the London & North Eastern Railway, where it carried the number D2217. On the formation of British
Railways, it was renumbered DS1173. Subsequently the loco spent time on trials at various locations
including Ipswich, Lowestoft, Norwich Thorpe, Cambridge, and Stratford. During March 1967, it was
allocated to Hither Green and renumbered D2341. During the week ending 8 April 1968, D2341 was
reallocated to Ashford Chart Leacon, where, just eight months later, it was withdrawn from service
after 21 years 6 months and 21 days.
Back to Tasmania. The Mount Lyell locos weren’t the first of the type to be ordered. In 1947 the
Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR) placed an order with Drewery for four 0-6-0DMs. The order
was then sub-contracted to Vulcan Foundry. These became TGR class V and were the first diesels
ordered for the island. There were repeat orders. Two in 1951 and two more in 1955. The TGR built
four more under licence at its Lauceston Railway Workshops.
After Mount Lyell closed the locos were sold. One went to the TGR where it was numbered V13. The
other went to the Emu Bay Railway where it remained in service until 2000.
TGR V13 survived into preservation, operated by the West Coast Wilderness Railway as their D2 and
subsequently fitted with a rack drive unit.
Clive is our Transport and Railway writer, with years of experience he is a fount of knowledge on all things transport nostalgia.
