Hunslet 16-inch 0-6-0 Saddle Tank

The Hunslet 16-inch 0-6-0 saddle tank was small industrial engine that was first built in 1923 by the Hunslet Engine Company. The reason they are classed as the Hunslet 16-inch is because they have 16-inch diameter internal cylinders. These used to be found all over the country working in all different types of industry, some of the companies were very small and track maintenance was not a high priority, so the engines needed to be able to work in poor conditions and be easy to fix.

The withdrawal from service of these locos happened over time but was mainly as newer diesel shunters were built and purchased to take over from the tired steam engines.

Hunslet Works No 1589 Newstead 0-6-0ST

This locomotive was built by the Hunslet Engine Company in 1929 to the standard Hunslet 16-inch design and was purchased by the Kirby Featherstone and Hemsworth Collieries.

Following the nationalisation of the collieries, Newstead’s ownership was transferred to the NCB who she worked for at the Wooley Colliery. In 1971 or 1972 she was replaced and doomed to be scrapped.

Newstead was purchased by Malcolm Saul who to afford her had to sell his beloved traction engine and paid for a low loader. After storing it in a shed for a little while Malcolm Saul took Newstead to Suffolk Steam, where it was stripped down and given a light overhaul, and then assembled again. In the early 1990s Malcolm Saul drove Newstead a hundred yards or so on the track at Suffolk Steam.

After this Malcolm Saul rented some land from a Convent in Hertfordshire where he was granted permission to build a shed and store Newstead there. Malcolm then planted poplar trees along the boundary fence causing the shed to disappear and history to record her as “Believed Scrapped”.

Sadly in 2015 Malcolm passed away and the current owners found out about the possibility of an engine being sat in a shed in a convent in Hertfordshire. Once Newstead was found the next thing to do was to extract Newstead from the shed.

To extract Newstead from the Convent was a big task that was undertaken by the current owners and took 3 days to load Newstead onto the low loader due to the muddy grounds and not being able to get the low loader to the shed where Newsted was kept.

After being extracted from the convent, the Nene Valley Railway had agreed to house Newstead for assessment. Once Newstead had been put into the workshops at Nene Valley Railway she was stripped down so a full assessment could be completed, it was found that to bring Newstead up to modern standards there would need to be a lot of work completed such as new firebox crown stays, steam heating and vacuum brakes. When this was proposed to the Nene Valley Railway, they asked to stop work due to the Nene Valley Railway not wanting to risk another overhaul taking a long time.

After this the current owner started looking for a new home railway that would allow the work to take place, the Spa Valley Railway was very keen. Once Newstead had been moved to the Spa Valley Railway the estimate for the completion of the overhaul was 3 – 4 years, but as the overhaul was going on there were various delays which meant the overhaul actually took over 6 ½ years.

In December 2024 it was decided that they could no longer fit Newstead into their motive power plans, so it was time to search for another railway again that could fit Newstead into their motive power plans.

So, the current owners started to look for a new home railway, where they contacted the North Norfolk Railway. In March 2025 Newstead was moved from the Spa Valley Railway to the North Norfolk Railway where it was moved to the Weybourne workshops and work commenced.

In June 2025 Newstead has successfully undertaken both light engine test runs and loaded test runs with the aim to have it running on public passenger services by the end of 2025.