90733, now restored and preserved on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway is the only Austerity 2-8-0 in existence.
The locomotive was built in 1945 by Vulcan Foundry at Newton-le-Willows, works number 5200 and was sent to the Netherlands State Railways. In 1953 it was sold to Statens Jamnagar (Swedish State Railways) and in 1958 the loco as No. 1931 was withdrawn from service and stored undercover. A group of KWVR members found the loco in an isolated clearing in Sweden and it returned to England via Hull docks to Ingrow on 12th January 1973. Since 1990 KWVR members have been restoring the loco to BR condition. In total 935 of these locos were made, 733 were purchased by British Railways of which there are no survivors. The War Department (WD) "Austerity" 2-8-0 is a type of heavy freight steam locomotive that was introduced in 1943 for war service. A total of 935 were built, making this the most-produced British class of steam locomotives. The Austerity 2-8-0 was based on the LMS Class 8F, which until that point had been the government's standard design. Various modifications were made to the 8F design by Riddles including a boiler of simpler construction which was parallel rather than tapered and a round-topped firebox rather than a Belpaire firebox. The firebox was made of steel rather than the rarer and more expensive copper. One WD 2-8-0 has survived. Vulcan Foundry works No. 5200 was repatriated from Sweden to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. It was SJ number 1931. It was overhauled to its original condition, finished in 2007, which involved building a new cab and tender, become BR "No. 90733". After test runs, 90733 ran its first passenger train on Monday 23 July 2007.
Size: 6957px × 4596px
Location: Oakworth Station, West Yorkshire, England, UK
Photo credit: © Kevin Clark / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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