Austerity Saddle Tank locos - Name?

Heya, I found myself idly wondering, does anyone know if Hunslet had an 'official' name for the WD 0-6-0ST locos, like the 50550 and 48150 classes that preceded it, or was 'Austerity' the official name used by the company?
I've always thought that 'Austerity' is such an odd name to give to a class.
Thanks
C

 

Hunslet certainly called it the Austerity, reflecting the wartime circumstances in which it was designed. The official 1946 spare parts list, with that title on the front cover, has been reprinted and can be seen at:
http://www.camdenmin.co.uk/products/hunslet-austerity-locomotives-spare-parts-list-c-1946

 

If memory serves correct the Austerity was officially Hunslet 50555 class but because the design was also built by other builders due to the need for speedy construction the official name of "Austerities" (from Austerity build) was adopted. If my memory serves correct the HE2411 - 17 batch were to the 50550 design and intended for an East Midlands Quarry project that failed to materialise and, as the latest Hunslet design, was adopted as the basis for the new simpler design for the WD

 

In my old Ian Allan book they are described as "Riddles Ministry of Supply Design".

 

Thank you very much for the replies, interesting that for the external builders a name instead of number as a class designation was adopted, but to know that the original name was 50555 makes a lot of sense.

 

Just don't mention the 'J' word. I used it once but I think I got away with it. Nobody reads my posts anyway.






Hello?

 

No-one seems to have mentioned that just about everyone, except for a few pedants, called them J94s.

 

Oh dear, you've done it now. Time to retreat...

 

Most people I know call them Austerities. Perhaps I move in better circles.......

 

Miff doesn't anyway!

 

No doubt you do! Nowadays 'Bucket' is often heard too and J94 rarely - I conceed.

 

H.A. Gamble's IRS 1969 article titled The 18in Hunslets lists the three distinct classes, the '48150' (introduced 1937); the '50550' (1941) and the 'Austerity' (1943) and goes into some detail about the development of these 18in designs and the differences between them. http://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/23/18in_Hunslets.htm

I hope someday to read Don Townsley's history of the Hunslet Engine Co. I wonder if he said anything about the Austerity name.

 

good morning Miff,

In his book, Don Townsley refers to the locomotive as "Austerity" . He summarised the Austerity as being an amalgam of the 48150 and the later 50550 classes and both the latter types being a development of Hunslet 1506, which was an 18" side tank locomotive that was sold to John Bowes & Partners for the Pontop & Jarrow Railway in 1930. Despite references to the contrary, there was very little of R. Riddles in the Hunslet Austerity.

Cheers

Alan

 

Sadly not - a quick perusal of my copy identifies the concept and the elements (i.e. which design parts from earlier classes were drafted into the final design) but doesn't identify how or why they were classified "Austerities" - possibly the same problem as the 90700-732 + 90750 - 774 BR series being simply called "WD /Dub-Dee".

 

I wonder if the name, if little else, came from Riddles. As the Gamble article states the design was initiated at a Ministry of Supply conference. Riddles was Director of Transportation Equipment at the MoS and his 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 Austerity locos also appeared in 1943.

 

Quite right they are almost entirely a Hunslet design which because of demand were farmed out to many other builders to complete the number required. The Austerity bit simply comes from the need for a cheap war engine produced with whatever materials were available in those austere days.

You can see quite a number of the Hunslet's on

http://steammemories.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Nobody's mentioned the nickname 'Bed irons' yet on this thread or was it just a local West Riding term?

 

J94!



*runs for cover*

 

An earlier use of the term was the Bulleid Q1.

The original design remit to the drawing office from Bulleid and CS Cocks included the following (in 1941):

"(3) Aim at a weight of 51 tons [...] and make a virtue out of necessity by (a) extending weight-saving techniques [...] and (b) eliminating all non-essentials, remembering the shortage of materials and applying austerity." [Original emphasis].

Subsequently, when the locomotives were introduced the SR press office stressed the austerity angle, which was duly reported in the press. The SR also produced New Year greeting cards for 1943 that used the term. It was only after that that the word became associated with the Riddles 2-8-0s.

Tom