Industrial News from Railways Illustrated

Hunslet stays busy

Hunslet Engine is still busy with overhaul work and there have been a number of movements to and from the workshops at Barton-under-Needwood.
At the end of July the overhaul of HE9000 for BNFL was completed, fitted with a new Cummins engine and a redesigned cab, and has also had a new type of radio control fitted.
To test out this equipment it was sent to the Chasewater Railway for a few days for everything to be finalised, and once this had been successfully completed it was moved back to Sellafield. It is possible another loco may move south shortly for similar work, and full details of this will be given in due course.
During August GECT 5391 was moved from the Ford Motor site at Bridgend for overhaul and modifications, and Hunslet hire loco HE 6662 was sent to Bridgend to cover.

Loco STOLEN from Ayrshire

There is quite a lot of attention being drawn to scrap thefts from many sites in recent months, and the Ayrshire Preservation Group has also suffered a very large loss.
Earlier in the year the group moved most of its stock from Minnivey to Dunaskin where there was secure accommodation, but quite a bit of material was left at Minnivey as the stock was in poor condition. However, scrap thieves visited Minnivey, quite a remote location, and removed/scrapped a lot of the stock that was left. They must have been very well equipped as two standard gauge locomotives were removed – probably in pieces. The two locos were JF 4200028 that had been previously stripped for spares and AB 366 – the latter was a large 0-6-0DM loco.
Also removed was a rare ex-NCB snowplough that had been built on the chassis of an ex-GSWR hopper wagon, along with two other wooden mineral wagons. Narrow gauge stock was also taken – this included a 7½-ton Ruston & Hornsby mine loco along with three mine tubs. In all 300 tons of stock was taken, equating to a loss of around £45,000! This is a timely reminder for all preservation groups to keep their stock secure.