Hudswell Clarke No. 1800 Is a 0-6-0 Tank Engine that was built by Hudswell Clarke in 1947.
History[]
Hudswell Clarke No. 1800 was constructed in 1947 by Hudswell Clarke and it was delivered to the British Sugar Corporation to work at Woodston in Peterborough. Hudswell Clarke No. 1800 was in-fact, one of only two steam locomotives that were built new for BSC after the Second World War before the total commitment to diesel. It was also the largest steam locomotive owned by BSC.
It remained at Woodston for all of its working life in daily use in the sugar beet season when it pushed wagons of beet from the farms up the steeply graded line to be uploaded at the factory. After it operated in its final days of its revenue service it was withdrawn from service when British Rail ordered diesel shunters.
In 1970, the newly formed Peterborough Railway Society (which later to become the Nene Valley Railway) set up their working base in a compound within sidings owned by BSC. The locomotive was still put back into service during the autumn to spring sugar beet harvesting season until 1973.
British Sugar Corporation had sold the locomotive to the Peterborough Railway Society for a nominal £100. The Society stored the locomotive for several years until eventually parts, including a good boiler, from a similar locomotive were purchased from NCB Whitwood Colliery. By 1979 it was back in steam as a major attraction at the Nene Valley Railway (NVR) at Wansford.
As of today, Hudswell Clarke No. 1800 remains based on the Nene Valley Railway where it is restricted to operating around the yard at Wansford and hauling Wansford – Yarwell Junction shuttles.