849 was built for the War Department by Hunslet of Leeds in 1940. It has some interesting features – a maximum speed of 12 mph coupled with a pulling capacity of 584 tons made it a very powerful locomotive over short distances. It’s not that well known that in the 1940s and 1950s the Army’s fleet of locomotives ranked as the third largest in the country behind British Railways and the National coal board.
849 Worked at a number of ordinance depots across the country until it was withdrawn from service in 1966 and sold to ESSO petroleum for you use in their depot at Purfleet in Essex. It finish working in 1983 and was donated by ESSO to the Buckinghamshire Railway centre where it is currently on display.
Pete's Favourite Things 