ILLINGWORTH LIVES AGAIN
Unusual ‘dual identity’ Nidd Valley Railway Hudswell Clarke runs again after 60 years.
F ormer Nidd Valley Light Railway Hudswell Clarke Illingworth made its preservation debut over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 27-30. The 1916-built 0-6-0ST has undergone an extensive and lengthy overhaul at the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, where it appeared for the first time during the ‘Branchline Weekend’. Not seen in public since 1957 (SR464), the locomotive worked shuttles from Embsay to Bow Bridge as part of a line-up that included two other resident industrials, Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST ‘Norman’ and Hunslet 0-6-0ST Beatrice. Although best known in preservation days as Illingworth, the locomotive also carries its Nidd Valley Light Railway name of Mitchell. The seven-mile route ran from Pateley Bridge, on the North Eastern Railway branch from Harrogate, up to Nidd Valley Reservoir. The steeply graded railway and reservoir were the work of Bradford Corporation. The 15in-cylindered engine, which is rare among industrial locomotives in that it features Walschaerts valve gear, worked for a variety of contractors after the closure of the Nidd Valley Railway. It last worked for Mowlem before entering preservation. It was acquired from a private site in Norfolk by Stephen Middleton, best known for his Stately Trains vintage carriage operation.