DISTRICT RAILWAY HUNSLET 0-6-0T

Designer: ........... Hunslet Engine Company

Builder: .... Hunslet Engine Company – L30/

............................................................ L31 (1931)

Driving wheel diameter: ...................... N/A

Cylinders: ................................................. N/A

Boiler pressure: ...................................... N/A

Tractive effort: ........................................ N/A

The District Railway took a rather different attitude to its Departmental locomotives than the Metropolitan. It had kept six Beyer Peacock 4-4-0Ts for engineering trains but, by the 1930s, they were getting too old. Rather than persevere with these Victorian relics, the District ordered two new 0-6-0Ts from Hunslet.

These handsome machines had distinctly Hunslet features, such as the boiler and cab, the outside cylinders and Walschaerts valve gear gave them a distinctly modern appearance. As the District Railway was part of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London group, the two locomotives were delivered with ‘Underground’ branding on the tanks but they were the first locomotives to receive an ‘L’ prefix to their numbers.

Details about these two locomotives are rather scant but, working from the former

District Railway’s Lillie Bridge depot, they served London Transport well for over 30 years. No. L30 spent 274 hours with a driver in charge, whereas No. L31 racked up 320 hours. The end for these handsome machines finally came in July 1964 when LT replaced them along with the last surviving ‘Es’ and ‘Fs’ with more panniers.

Can I see one? No.

Can I model them? Unfortunately, no known kits are available for these locomotives in any of the three popular scales.