This is a working Roundhouse and there are many restoration and building projects taking place.
Here is a selection of the work currently taking place .
Projects, bits and pieces
Baby Deltic Project
The British Rail Class 23 were a class of ten Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives built by the English Electric Company (EE) in 1959. The power unit used was a Napier Deltic T9-29 9-cylinder engine of 1,100 bhp (820 kW) driving an EE generator, which powered the four traction motors. They were numbered from D5900 to D5909.
The T9-29 diesel engine was a single, half-sized version of those used in the more powerful British Rail Class 55 'Deltic' locomotives, and the overall design and external appearance of the Class 23 was also similar to the Class 55, but much shorter, leading to their nickname of Baby Deltics.
The locos were withdrawn between 1968 and 1971 and none were preserved. The Baby Deltic Group purchased the last Napier Deltic T9-29 from the National Railway Museum and are in the process of recreating a fully operational locomotive.
Read more on their website.
E.B. Wilson
Class 58
Manning Wardle 0-4-0 Locomotive number 1795
Extract from its web page
"The locomotive left the Boyne Engine Works, Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds on the 24th June 1912. It was delivered to Thomas W Ward’s Albion Works in Sheffield. Wards apart from being celebrated scrap metal recyclers [scrap men!] were into various forms of heavy engineering. The company had also become machinery dealers and a spin off from that was the buying and selling of industrial locomotives, usually used ones. Quite why they took delivery of a ‘special’ order loco from Manning Wardle is unclear. It may have been a frustrated order, or a loco built for stock. It was certainly of a heavy build and ideal for steel works or scrap yard use. It’s unclear on the records weather 1795 actually worked for Wards; if it did it certainly wasn’t for long. Manning Wardle’s factory records have it moving again to James Lysaghts steelworks at Scunthorpe on 13th January 1913."
The Class 58s were derived in the late 1970s, at a time when British Rail were investigating possible designs for a brand new, low-cost, easily maintainable heavy freight locomotive, able to replace the aging first generation traction and subsequently handle the predicted rail freight growth of the 1980s.
58001, the first of the Class, was handed over on the 9th December 1982, with delivery of the remaining 49 following up until March 1987; with all being constructed at the British Rail Engineering Limited Doncaster Works.
Synonymous with hauling coal traffic throughout the Midlands, the influx of General Motors traction at the end of the 20th Century heralded the demise of the Class 58s; with all having been withdrawn by 2002. Since then the majority of the Class have seen use on the continent, operating freight trains in Holland, Spain and France.
By 2010, the remaining engines in the UK were facing an uncertain future, with many having been heavily stripped for spares. On the 19th April 2010 DB Schenker put seven Class 58s up for sale, creating the first chance for any of the type to be purchased privately.
Having held an ambition to preserve a Class 58 since its formation, the Class 58 Locomotive Group saw that this opportunity as too good to miss and following a hectic process and fund raising events culminated in the successful purchase of 58016.
Restoration work has now commenced on the locomotive at its base at Barrow Hill, with significant spares sourced from several of the other subsequent scrapped classmates, notably 58045, which was briefly owned by the C58LG.
Read more on their website.
Pioneer Diesel Group 33035
The Pioneer Diesel Locomotive Group is the owner and operator of locomotives 33035, 45060, 45105, 45135 and are part owner of D5705. It is based at Barrow Hill and the major restoration work is carried out here by its volunteers. This website will not be able to keep up with their work as it is ever changing and we would encourage you to visit their own website or on Facebook to get a flavour of the range of work they do and the up-to-date progress on the locomotive(s) currently on site.
British Railways Class 33035 was built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company as part of a batch delivered to the Southern Region of British Railways in May 1961. It features an 8 cylinder Sulzer diesel engine rated at 1550hp driving Crompton Parkinson traction motors earning the class the nickname “Cromptons”. This class of locomotive spent most of their working lives hauling passenger trains around the Southern Region, particularly Electric Multiple Units that were working on non-electrified routes. As a result all were fitted with Electric Train Heating (ETH) and some received multiple unit working controls.
When new the locomotive was turned out in British Railways locomotive green and initially allocated to Hither Green wearing the number of D6553. Later in the 1970s the locomotive received British Railways corporate blue livery and was renumbered to 33035 under the then-new Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) scheme. Towards the end of the locomotives service career it was repainted into Network SouthEast livery, becoming one of only two Class 33 locomotives to receive this livery.
The locomotive was officially withdrawn from active service at Stewarts Lane depot in October 1996 although it is believed that it hadn‟t hauled any trains since 1994. It was purchased for preservation in 1997 and moved to Barrow Hill, Chesterfield. Whilst there 33035 has been extensively restored and painted into British Rail Blue livery. The Pioneer Diesel Locomotive Group are the proud restorers and carers of this locomotive.
The Pioneer Diesel Locomotive Group