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Tuesday 20 January 2015

Hawthorn Leslie

R & W Hawthorn Leslie were a major locomotive & marine engine manufacturer & shipbuilder on Tyneside between 1886 & 1937, when the loco building arm was bought by RSH.   Hawthorn Leslie continued as a major marine engine maker & shipbuilder, becoming part of British Shipbuilders in 1977.

Tanfield Railway has the largest collection of locos built by Hawthorn Leslie:


HL 2711/1907 South Bank CYCLOPS 0-4-0 ST
HL 2859/1911 Keighley No.2 0-4-0 ST
HL 3056/1914 Hetton No.14 0-4-0 ST
HL 3513/1927 Brancepeth STAGSHAW 0-6-0 ST
HL 3575/1923 Glasshoughton No.3 0-6-0 ST
HL 3732/1928 Dunston No.13 0-4-0 ST
HL 3746/1929 Huncoat No.3 0-6-0 F
HL 3872/1936 Kearsley No.2 Bo-Bo E

Examples of web sites which detail the history & products of the company include:
    Grace's Guide on Hawthorn Leslie
    Tyne Built Ships - Hawthorn Leslie
    Tyne Tugs - Hawthorn Leslie
    Hawthorn Leslie on Flickr
    Hawthorn Leslie Locos on a Pre Grouping Railway
    Hawthorn Leslie Locos Extant Worldwide
    Company History from National Archives

R & W Hawthorn Leslie were formed in 1886 by the merger of:
    R & W Hawthorn  (2009/1884 No.3 Enterprise 0-4-0 ST is at Tanfield)
    Andrew Leslie

2 comments:

Derek Neil hunter said...

Hello my name is Neil hunter I'm looking for information about a shunter at st peters basin she was called the sissyfuss I'm looking to see if there's any photos of it my grandad drove it from being a apprentice and my dad has even stood on the plate with my grandad his dad there was 3 generations of my family working at st peters in 50s any help would be fab.

TRBlogMaster said...

Hi Neil
See my post for Fri 8 Oct 2021. The steam loco Sisyphus was an 0-4-0ST built as works no.2856 by Hawthorn Leslie at Forth Banks in 1911, used at HL's St Peter's marine engine works, and scrapped in 1951. I'd seen a nameplate from Sisyphus around the same time that I passed St Peter's basin on a lockdown bike ride, after which I wrote the post. I searched the web, but never found a photo of the loco Sisyphus. The best I found was a shot which probably shows part of the loco in the distance.
There was a replacement new diesel loco supplied in 1951 by Ruston & Hornsby - this was also named Sisyphus. It was sold to DS Bowram Ltd of Gateshead in 1974. I've never seen anything else about this loco.
Derek Smith
(In Greek mythology, the gods made Sisyphus forever roll a ball up a hill, but he never reached the top before it rolled back down.)