Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd (RSH) was a locomotive builder with works in

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary author ...

History

The company was formed in September 1937 when

Robert Stephenson and Company Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build railway engines. Famous early locomoti ...

, which was based in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...

, took over the locomotive building department of Hawthorn Leslie and Company, based in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. The goodwill of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

locomotive builders Kitson & Co. was obtained in 1938. RSH locomotive numbering began at 6939, this being the first number following the sum total of locomotives built by Robert Stephenson & Co. and Hawthorn Leslie, (6938). RSH became part of

English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...

in 1955. Locomotive building at the Newcastle upon Tyne works ended in 1961 and at Darlington in 1964.

Diesel locomotives

RSH entered the

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

market in November 1937 with a "direct reversing" locomotive fitted with a

Crossley Crossley, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, was a pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engines. Since 1988 it has been part of the Rolls-Royce Power Engineering group. More than 100,000 Crossley oil and gas engines ...

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...

engine. There was no reversing gearbox and the

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-cal ...

itself was reversible, as in marine practice. When starting, in either direction, power was supplied by

compressed air Compressed air is air kept under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. Compressed air is an important medium for transfer of energy in industrial processes, and is used for power tools such as air hammers, drills, wrenches, an ...

until the engine fired.Industrial Railway Record no. 169, June 2002, pp 146-158, ISSN 0537-5347 One of these locomotives, ''Beryl'' (RSH 7697/1953), is preserved at the Tanfield Railway. After the 1955 modernisation plan of British Railways RSH responded by building the following class of diesel locomotives some of which are preserved (Including D306 & D318). * Class 04 * Class 20 * Class 37 * Class 40 They also built the following for Australia. *

Queensland Railways DL class The DL class was a class of diesel locomotive built by Queensland Railways, Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns and Walkers Limited for Queensland Railways between 1939 and 1961. History The DL class provided the first diesel locomotive in serv ...

* WAGR Z class

Preservation

References

*Industrial Railway Society : Various publications. {{General Electric Company plc Stephenson and Hawthorns