‘S160s’ THAT HAVE COME BACK

More than 70 years after the end of the Second World War, four of the eight ‘S160s’ preserved in the UK are rather special because they worked briefly in this country before finding permanent employment in Hungary and Poland. USATC No. 2253, built by Baldwin and shipped into Hull in May 1943, worked out of the LNER’s Leeds Neville Hill shed before being sent to France in September 1944. It survived warfare to become Polish State Railways No. Tr203-288, and reputedly had a full overhaul before arriving back in the UK in 1992 to work on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Following resale in 2013, it was loaned to the National Railway Museum for static display at Locomotion, Shildon, and its next home after its latest overhaul will be the Dartmouth Steam Railway. Alco-built USATC No. 2138 also arrived in Hull in May 1943, and after a month with the LNER it went to the Great Western. It went to France in 1944, and joined the large Hungarian State Railway fleet as its No. 411.380. It was purchased for the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) as spares for fellow Alco ‘S160’ No. 1631, along with the chassis from 1943 Baldwin No. 2364, which had a year at Stratford before being handed over to the US Army. The latter engine also worked in Hungary. Alco No. 1631, built in 1942, commissioned at Cowlairs, Glasgow, and stored in South Wales, went to France after two years’ service, and became Hungary’s No. 411.388, working as recently as December 1981. After use as a static generator, it was secured for the East Lancashire Railway in 1995, and is now at Ruddington (GCR) for extensive rebuilding. In February 2014, the KWVR’s No. 5820 appeared briefly in BR guise as No. 95820, but this was pure whimsy. It is speculated, however, that it may have also previously been in the UK, but it was exported immediately and didn’t enter service here.