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11-ton Hibberd 4wDM

Ruston

Entry posted by Ruston in A

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This Dorman-engined Hibberd is believed to have originally been built in 1956 for a cement works in Kent. It was sold to a contractor in 1964 and was used on various tracklifting contracts around the country in the wake of Beeching's closures of unprofitable lines. It was seen in the Camden yard of Alfie Solomons Ltd. in 1967 and by 1974 had turned up at Strong's yard, in Small Heath.

 

It doesn't appear ro have been very popular with the drivers and spent a lot of time at the end of the Metal Box siding at Watery Lane. By this time, Charlie Strong (Small Heath) Ltd. had become part of the Shelby Group, who negotiated a contract to shunt the Metal Box works in Small Heath. It is supposed that the loco was bought for this purpose but most of the shunting appears to have been done using the scrapyard locomotives. By 1978 it seems to have disappeared, presumed scrapped or sold.

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Edited by Ruston

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decauville1126

One of the best examples I've seen Dave! Thought it was an 11-ton one that they bought unless it came with 3 tons of ballast to weigh in. Love the narrative.

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Ruston
57 minutes ago, decauville1126 said:

One of the best examples I've seen Dave! Thought it was an 11-ton one that they bought unless it came with 3 tons of ballast to weigh in. Love the narrative.

Typo. Thanks for pointing it out.

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mike morley

Built one of these a few years ago.  The whitemetal from which it was cast turned out to have a melting-point about half a degree above that of the low-melt solder I used to assemble it!  Took me longer to repair the damage done than it did to actually build it in the first place!

Tenshodo spuds don't have the best of reputations but I found that when carrying the weight this body provides they can be made to perform far, far better than you'd expect. 

I know John Bruce of this parish has built a dreamliner version using a pair of Branchlines gearboxes that are no longer available.  I considered attempting something similar using Bill Bedford gearboxes but abandoned the idea when I realised the better-than-expected performance of the Tenshodo spud would be enough for the limited use mine gets.

What powers yours?

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