Diesel Engines

The current diesel locomotives based at Leadhills are:

Luce Diesel Locomotive No4

Built by Ruston and Hornsby Limited in Lincoln as works number 7002/0467/6 and delivered new to Edmund Nuttall Ltd, Leith in September 1966.

Luce was originally built to a similar specification as Little Clyde but was rebuilt with a larger cab and air brakes fitted. It weighs four and a half tonnes (4500kg) and is seven feet six inches long ( approximately 2.3m), five feet six inches wide (1.8m) and is eight feet six inches high (2.6m).

Luce was used between 1967 and 1969 on the second Mersey Road tunnel. Between 1969 and 1970, Luce was used at the Essex Water Scheme pipeline contract at Freckenham, Suffolk. In 1983 was moved to Southampton, and, until 1985 was used during the repair of the Main Rail tunnel near the Station.

On 13th November 1987 Luce arrived at Leadhills where she has been used to haul the passenger trains. Luce is used as a standby locomotive if Clyde is out of service for any reason.

Little Clyde Diesel Locomotive No5

Built by Ruston and Hornsby Limited in Lincoln as works number 7002/0467/2 and delivered new to Edmund Nuttall Ltd, Leith in September 1966. This Locomotive has a two cylinder air cooled diesel engine producing thirty-one and one half horse power to its four wheels via a three speed constant mesh gearbox.

It weighs four and a half tonnes (4500kg) and is seven feet six inches long ( approximately 2.3m), three feet two and a quarter inches wide (970mm) and is six feet three inches high (1.9m).

Little Clyde was based at the London depot in June 1970 and was used at the North of Scotland, Hydro Electric Pumped storage project at Foyers in 1971. Between 1979 and 1980, Little Clyde was used on the Leith Docks contract. In 1983 was moved to Southampton, and, until 1985 was used during the repair of the Main Rail tunnel near the Station.

On 13th November 1987 Little Clyde arrived at Leadhills where it has been painstakingly restored to its original livery. Little Clyde is often seen hauling works trains containing new track and ballast up to the halt at Glengonnar.

Clyde Diesel Locomotive No6

Built by Hunslet Locomotives , Leeds in 1975, as locomotive number HE6347. This Locomotive has a six cylinder water cooled Perkins diesel engine producing sixty horse power to its four wheels via a torque converter and chain drive.

It weighs eight tonnes and is ten feet seven inches long (3.2m), five feet wide (1.5m) and is seven feet ten inches high (2.4m).It is fitted with air brakes , an electric starter, headlamp and a cab heater for the cold mornings here at Leadhills.

The locomotive was delivered new to the National Coal Board, Eppleton Collery on 13th January 1975 and was numbered 20/180/4.

In August 1986 it was moved to the South Tynedale Railway at Alston, Cumbria, where it was refurbished, painted yellow and known as “The Peril”.In January 1990 Clyde moved to Leadhills and was given its new colours.

Clyde is the main locomotive used on the passenger trains and can be seen working most weekends between May and September at Leadhills.

Nith Diesel Locomotive No8

Built by Hudswell Clarke as number DM1002. This Locomotive has a four cylinder water cooled Gardner LW diesel engine producing sixty-eight horse power to its four wheels via a fluid coupling and three speed synchro self shifting gearbox.

It weighs ten tonnes and is sixteen feet two inches long (4.9m), five feet six inches wide (1.7m) and is eight feet eight inches high (2.6m).

This locomotive was delivered new to the National Coal Board, Waterloo Main Colliery in 1956 and was numbered NCB 1-44-121. In June 1967 went to Pelican Engineering for repairs, returning to Waterloo Main in August 1967 (until closure in 1968). It was at the Allerton Bywater Central Workshops in 1970 before moving to the Prince of Wales Colliery. In February 1981 was at the Sharlston Colliery which closed in May 1993 , when the locomotive was moved to Leadhills.

In October 1996 Nith was transported to Anniesland College, Glasgow for restoration and was returned to Leadhills in June 1998. Since then work has continued fitting the glazing to the cab and checking the air braking system. Nith will be brought into service shortly to give Clyde a welcome break from hauling the passenger trains.

Clayton Diesel Locomotive No12

This loco was built by Clayton in 1978. It was one of a batch of 4 built at the same time, with 3 earmarked for export to Canada (1819A, C & D) and this particular one (1819B) simply built for stock. It was subsequently sold in 1979 to the NCB for use on the surface system of Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland. As supplied it was set to 2’ 6” gauge and also carried a basic cab. The original livery was all over yellow. Its main function at Wearmouth was shunting long rakes of mine cars between the mine shaft and the stock yard. These rakes regularly contained 50 vehicles, grossing over 100 tons. The loco was rescued for preservation in August 1994, when it was the last piece of mechanical plant residing on about 4m of track surrounded by heaps of brick & concrete which were by then the remains of Wearmouth Colliery.

The loco was overhauled in 1996/7, being de-gauged to 2’ in the process. The cab, which although built by Clayton, was of poor design was by then in poor condition and was scrapped. The rest of the loco was in generally good condition and the restoration was mainly a case of straightening panels and repainting. Upon completion the loco was put into store as by then the owner had moved and for a time had no Railway to take it to. In August 2005 it was moved to Leadhills Railway where it ran properly for the first time in 11 years.

The loco is a standard Clayton Tunnelling type loco, the engine is a Deutz F4L912W, 4 cylinder air cooled diesel producing 55hp. The loco is not flame proof (i.e. it is unsuitable for gassy mines or tunnels) and is fitted with a 12v conventional electrical system. The engine drives a hydraulic pump which in turn drives a hydraulic motor attached to the leading worm type axle. A short prop shaft passes the drive to the trailing axle. This transmission provides full speed control from zero to about 9mph, in both directions. It also provides full braking, by retarding the loco against the engine. For parking purposes only there is a drum brake fitted to the input shaft of the trailing axle.

A feature of these locos is that the axles are quite long and the wheels can be positioned with spacer rings to set the gauge to anything from 24” to 36” simply by changing the position of the rings in front of and behind the wheel. The wheel and rings are secured to the axle by a massive nyloc nut. Sanding gear is fitted, consisting of a rocking sandbox between the wheels controlled by a lever in the cab. To allow operation on various weights of track there are 2t of steel plate ballast weights in the side boxes ahead of the leading axle and in the cab floor. With ballast, as the loco is currently, the weight is 8t, without it is 6t. With the full ballast the tractive effort is approx 2000kg.

This loco was fitted with Allen type couplings from new and will retain these at Leadhills. The only major departures from the original design by Clayton is that the loco will be provided with a compressed air system to enable it to work passenger trains as required and a spring applied, air release system will be added to the existing parking brake to aid its operation.

Although this particular loco is now 27 years old the type is still being built by Clayton, it is now available with a range of 4 and 6 cylinder engines with powers up to 78hp and also hydrokinetic transmissions and even radio remote control !

Mennock Diesel Locomotive No10

Built in 1994 by Hunslet Locomotive Works Leeds as number LD9348. This Locomotive has a six cylinder air cooled Deutz F6L912W diesel engine producing around one hundred horse power to its four wheels via a Clarke-Hurth 18000 series hydraulic transmission and axle mounted gearboxes.

It weighs twelve tonnes and is 4.98m long, 1.2m wide and is 1.6m high to the top of the bonnet.

It is fitted with all kinds of warning devices and fail safe systems. This locomotive was part of a fleet of five locomotives forming a hire fleet for Hunslet.

They were used on the Jubilee Line extension in London where each locomotive was named after children at local schools. This locomotive was known as Eileen. Most of our locomotives are named after local Scottish rivers.