Maunsell's 0-4-0 diesel shunter...
Entry posted by TurboSnail
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Plenty of people have heard of REL Maunsell's forays into diesel shunter design, with no.s 1, 2, and 3 being developed in 1936/7 with 350hp engines to compete against the Z class heavy steam shunters. What is less known is that late into the design, it was also decided to trial a smaller 0-4-0 version with a 200hp engine, to replace the likes of the A1X and R1 classes in smaller dockyards and branch lines. As such, the design was outsourced to an industrial manufacturer (there are very limited records of this engine, so the identity of said manufacturer has been lost) with instructions to maintain the key features of the larger 350hp engines, including the distinctive angled lower cab windows, step/handrail locations and the outside frames. Only one locomotive was produced, no. 4, finished in 1938, and immediately sent to the Elham Valley line where it proved useful but at higher maintenance and running costs due to the unfamiliarity of the crews with the new technology and the cost of getting diesel to the rural location. After the breakout of war, it was transferred to the Q port at Richborough, which is where the trail stops. It is possible that it was sent across the channel as part of the war effort, but given it was a non-standard class, I think it is more likely that it would have stayed there as a shunter and that any further records of it's actions were kept classified or lost, leaving the enticing (but unlikely) prospect that it is still out there somewhere... Only one known image was taken of it, believed to be somewhere on the Elham Valley line.
Of course, that's all complete rubbish, this post was supposed to go up on the 1st April, but I'm nothing if not willing to jog along several hundred yards behind the bandwagon...
The loco in the badly photoshopped pic above is based on the backstory above, but never actually appeared in real life. I needed an excuse to practice with 3D printing, without people pointing out all the prototypical inaccuracies that would go with an existing locomotive! You can see more of the results in the video below - please excuse the 'advertising', I'm not expecting many people to want a model of something that never existed...
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