Hudswell Clarke
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering firm and locomotive builder based in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It began in 1860 as Hudswell and Clarke. In 1870 the name changed to Hudswell, Clarke and Rodgers, then in 1881 to Hudswell, Clarke and Company. The company became a limited company in 1899.
Early on they did design work for William Bartholomew’s compartment boats for the Aire and Calder Navigation. They mostly built small contractor’s and industrial steam locomotives, usually 0-6-0T, and they did not make locomotives with superheaters. The locomotive side of the business later became part of the Hunslet Engine Company. Besides locomotives, they produced underground diesel-powered mining locomotives, hydraulic pit props and other mining gear.
In 1911 they agreed with Robert Hudson to manufacture narrow gauge locomotives. This created 16 standard designs, named A to Q, ranging from small 0-4-0 engines to 0-6-0 engines with 5 to 55 horsepower. They built 188 locomotives to these designs, adaptable to different track gauges.
In the 1930s they also made narrow gauge steam-outline diesel-hydraulic locomotives for amusement parks. Notable park locomotives include Neptune (1931) and Triton (1932) for Scarborough’s North Bay Railway, Robin Hood and May Thompson (1932–1933) for other parks, and Mary Louise and Carol Jean (1933) for Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Carol Jean was damaged by fire in 1934, and replacements followed. They later built three more 4-6-2s for Billy Butlin for the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938, which were moved to his holiday camps afterward.
The company also designed and built diesel locomotives for main-line and private use, mainly for shunting. One well-known project was Skildpadden (The Turtle), built for the Burton Latimer ironstone quarry and later owned by several groups before ending up with the National Railway Museum and then Statfold.
During World War II, Hudswell Clarke diversified into armaments. They built airframes for nuclear weapons, including the Blue Danube bomb casing at their Leeds plant, and Red Beard airframes. They also contributed to other projects like Violet Club and the interim Megaton Weapon, and helped convert the Centurion tank into an armoured bridgelayer.
The company declined in the mid-1960s as defence work decreased, and the locomotive business was absorbed by the Hunslet Engine Company. Locomotives built by Hudswell Clarke can still be found in the UK and overseas. In 2012, Ixion Models released an O gauge model of a Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST similar to Wissington No. 1700.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:52 (CET).