The first diesel locomotives were built specifically for Templeborough Steel Works where heavy casting cars had to be hauled around sharp curves out of the melting shop. This required high power with a short wheel base and consequentially a heavy locomotive to get the grip required. One bazaar features of this pair was the use of a V12 engine block but with only one side assembled with pistons and cylinder heads, giving a 'straight 6' engine. Auxiliaries were bolted to the top of the engine in place of the missing cylinder heads. It is supposed that this was done to increase the weight of the locomotives, but it also increased the length when compared with the later locomotives of a similar power.
Such was the prestige of these engines that the first YE 2480/50 was exhibited before going to Templeborough, although the second YE 2481 was delivered direct from Meadowhall. It is this move that explains why the older locomotive, named 'Rotherham' became No.2, while the second, named 'Sheffield' was No.1. It is rumored that when the Sheffield Museum Service wanted one of the pair, they went for No.1 believing it to be the older of the the two.
By 1973 production in the Templeborough melting shop was increasing beyond the capabilities of the 0-4-0 Yorkshires. Replacements were bought from Hunslet in the from of 6 0-6-0 diesel hydraulics weighing a grand total of 65 tons each.
Fortunately the importance of these locomotives was recognised and both were saved in the late 1980s when the Templeborough works system was being run down. 'Rotherham' went to the South Yorkshire Railway Preservation Society, while 'Sheffield' went to Kelham Island Industrial Museum near the centre of Sheffield.
BSC No.2 'Rotherham' is seen here at the South Yorkshire Railway Preservation Society's site adjacent to the former YEC works, part way through a repaint into 1970s BSC livery. The styled curves of the front end are only visible as the original heat shield has been removed and discarded. The locomotive still retains the large centre buffers required for moving the casting cars in Templeborough melting shop. Although difficult to start, the locomotive has moved under its own power while in preservation and the writer can vouch for the sure footedness of this design.
These first two diesels were refined into a class specification know as DE1 but no other engines of this type seem to have been built. The major production types were the 0-4-0 Class DE2 (275hp) & 0-6-0 Class DE4 (400hp) locomotives both with very similar styling to 2580 & 81. A class DE3 Specification was also prepared for a 400hp 0-4-0, but non were built. The 25 ton axle load may have been just two high for industrial lines in the 1950s.
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YE No. 2688 (Steel, Peech and Tozer No.20) is a DE2 built in 1959, but still had many features in common with the first YE diesel loco built back in 1950, it also spent its working life at the same work, Templeborough Steel Works, about a mile away from the locomotive works at Meadowhall.
The two photographs above show it in 1994 soon after it was transferred to the South Yorkshire Railway Preservation site adjacent to the old YE works, and forming a backdrop here.
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YE 2688 while sharing the body design of 'Rotherham' & 'Sheffield' shows signs of the developments being made. In place of the mechanical linkage between control handle and fuel pump, YE 2688 has a sophisticated controller using engine oil pressure to limit and change the engine speed and a load regulator on the generator. However the engine is still the usual Paxman V6RPH.
The 0-6-0 DE4s used the extra length of frame to carry the bigger V12 engine, giving a useful 400hp, however they had the same styling as the DE2, making forward visibility very poor.
The DE4 class seems to have become extinct in 1990, but production of the DE2 (or the development of it) through to 1965 has allowed at least one to survive.
The Story is CONTINUED on the next page about Yorkshire Engine Co.
For more information on Industrial locomotives and the railways they run on, we recommend the Industrial Railway Society
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