Darfield no. 1

Above: Darfield no. 1 at Llangollen Goods Junction ca. 1995 with a freight. (Ben Jackson)

Darfield No. 1 was completed by the Hunslet Engine Co. Ltd. of Leeds in October 1953 for the North Eastern Division of the National Coal Board. Locomotives of this type had been built since 1923, and production continued until 1958. The design remained largely unchanged apart from a few detail differences. The locomotives were mainly for colliery service, while a few went to ironstone quarries, steelworks, and five were exported to South America and Australia.

Darfield No. 1 was works no. 3783, and was delivered to Darfield Main Colliery, Wombwell (near Barnsley). It was kept occupied, along with Darfield No. 2, shunting 16-ton coal trucks around the colliery. No. 1 spent all its working life at Darfield Main, apart from a short spell in 1959 at Houghton Main Colliery nearby. The mine was dieselised in 1970 and the two steam locomotives became surplus to requirements, although No. 1 was resurrected briefly in 1971 to cover for diesel failure. It remained in the engine shed until 1974, when the NCB declared them redundant and offered them for sale by tender.

A boiler examination by interested preservationists revealed that No. 1 had a reasonable boiler, apart from needing a re-tube; No. 2 had presumably taken the main share of the work at the colliery and was in poor condition. Otherwise, No. 1 was in generally neglected state: some fittings were missing and the apple green, red, yellow and black livery was very shabby. An attempt to enter the engine shed without opening the doors first had left the bunker in an unusual shape.

Darfield No. 1 was purchased for preservation and moved to Delph Station near Oldham where it joined the unique Hunslet 14" six-coupled saddle tank Brookes No. 1; Darfield No. 2 met its inevitable end. However, there were no facilities for restoration work at Delph, and Darfield No. 1 was thus moved to Embsay Station on the Yorkshire Dales Railway (now Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway) in December 1975.

Restoration work took five years, including a new bunker, boiler repairs, and the fitting of vacuum brakes and steam heating. Its return to service came in early 1981, although a slight hitch came when the valve gear jammed in 'forward' during the first steaming! After rectification Darfield No. 1 entered service operating between Embsay Junction and Holywell Halt.

By the end of 1983, all was no longer well between the frames, and the loco was withdrawn for overhaul. All the motion was dismantled and found to be badly worn. The boiler cladding was removed for examination, revealing the dreaded blue asbestos, which had to be stripped. The motion was overhauled and reassembled for a return to service the following year, and it ran with little trouble until the end of 1987. During that time, the engine starred in an episode of the Yorkshire TV series "In Loving Memory", pretending to demolish a hearse which had stalled on a level crossing.

In 1988 it was decided to move Darfield No. 1 to the Llangollen Railway, the first time the loco had moved out of Yorkshire. However, the boiler tubes were condemned on arrival, and therefore the loco was completely dismantled for inspection of all of the motion at the same time. The boiler was refitted in June 1990 and the locomotive re-entered service that year.

A number of years of service followed, including a starring role in the TV programme "Peter Sharratt Set Loose" along with 7822 Foxcote Manor. By 1994 it was seeing less use in favour of larger engines, and it was hired to the Avon Valley Railway for the 1994 season; it returned the following year but was soon found to require extensive boiler repairs.

Darfield No. 1 has been stored since that time pending the availability of funding and engineering effort to return it to service once more.

Principal Dimensions

Wheel arrangement

0-6-0ST

Nominal tractive effort

17020 lbs at 85% boiler pressure

Maximum train weight

795 tons

Weight in working order

38 tons 5 cwt

Wheel diameter

3'9"

Cylinders

Two 16" dia x 22" stroke

Boiler pressure

160 psi

Valve gear

Stephenson

Water capacity

910 gallons

Coal capacity

35 cwt

History

New to Darfield Main Colliery

October 1953

Houghton Main Colliery

1959

Darfield Main Colliery

1959

Stored

1970

Reinstated

1971

Stored

1971

Withdrawn

1974

Delph Station

1975

Yorkshire Dales Railway

December 1975

Llangollen Railway

July 1988

East Lancashire Railway

January 1996

Llangollen Railway

November 2000

Text adapted from Steam at Llangollen no. 48 (Winter 1988/89); original text by Ben Jackson Last updated 16th July 2008 by  John Rutter - email webmaster