Dorman Long loco 'Beatty 139'

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Beatty139
NER Y7 0-4-0T
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 6:59 pm

Dorman Long loco 'Beatty 139'

Post by Beatty139 »

Hello, a little off topic I know (I have joined the group mainly for my intrest in Gauge 1 North Eastern and L&NER wagons) but I am the owner of Beatty No. 139 Hawthorn Lesley 3240 of 1917 which spent its whole life working in the teeside steel industry, but as yet I have never found any photos or firm history of what she did, other than she was withdrawen at Dock St (next to the transporter bridge) foundry in 1972.

Many thanks

Andy
Greedy Boards
GNSR D40 4-4-0
Posts: 208
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: York

Re: Dorman Long loco 'Beatty 139'

Post by Greedy Boards »

Hi

you might want to contact the Teesside Archives in Middlesbrough, who hold the British Steel Collection, which covers the Dorman Long Archives, and is a superb resource for all things associate with iron & steel production on Teesside - The University of Teesside also helped to catalogue and record the material, so you might be able to find out further details through them.

Don't know anything about your particular locomotive, but the history started with the formation of Black Hawthorn & Company in 1865. ou can see a couple of their locomotives at The Tanfield Railway, and at NRM York. The company was sold to to Chapman & Furneaux in 1896, and then Hawthorn Leslie in 1902. Major customers on Teesside included Bolckow Vaughan & Co, Head Wrightson & Co, North Eastern Steel.

Looking at the location, it could be that your locomotive first saw service at Bolckow Vaughan's Middlesbrough Iron Works on Vulcan Street, but the company was taken over by Dorman Long in 1929. However, Cliff Shepherd wrote an artcle on The Middlesbrough Owner's Railway, and states that about twenty of the local private companies had their own locomotives for shunting, so it may not be so straight forward.

There are images of Chapman & Furneaux 0-4-0ST 1212/1901, 'No 2' of Roddam Dent & Sons Ltd of Dent's Wharf; Chapman & Furneaux 0-4-0ST 1156 'Estate No 1' of Middlesbrough Owners Estate Railway; Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST 2729/07 'Cleveland' of Cocranes's Ormesby Ironworks in Railway Memories No 18, Cleveland & Whitby by Stephen Chapman (Bellcode Books), plus another shot of No 2729/07 & No 3481/20 'Cochranes No 6' in British Railways Past and Present No 14 Cleveland and North Yorkshire (Part 2), by Alan Thompson & Ken Groundwater (Silver Link Publishing Ltd).

Can't find much else, but would be happy to hear more, when you find anything out - You might want to contact the Industrial Railway Society as well.

Best wishes


Greedy Boards
North Eastern Matters
Greedy Boards
GNSR D40 4-4-0
Posts: 208
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: York

Re: Dorman Long loco 'Beatty 139'

Post by Greedy Boards »

Hi Andy

I know it was a long time ago since we spoke on the Forum, but am coming down to Ludlow and hoping to drop by Telford in April 2023, so do you still own Beatty 139, and would it be possible to see it, even if its in parts?

I came across the following booklet that may be of interest: Pocket Book K, Industrial Locomotives of the North Riding of Yorkshire, originally published by The Birmingham Locomotive Club Industrial Locomotive Information Section (1963), and subsequently reprinted by the Industrial Railway Society (2016).

It confirms that Hawthorn Leslie Works No 3240 was built in 1917, and delivered new to Bolckow Vaughan at Dock Street Foundry, where it was named BEATTY, and given the number 139. Bolckow Vaughan had financial problems in the 1920s, and was subsequently taken over by Dorman Long in 1929.

If you are interested, then I have a couple of sources about the Dorman Long livery, certainly in the 1950s: Black, lined yellow, with yellow side rods and buffer beams. (A colour photo of Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn Works No 7689 (1951) 0-6-0ST supplied new to Dorman Long Lackenby Works, and subsequently working at Wearmouth Colliery in 1963, in On North Eastern Lines, Derek Huntriss, published by Ian Allen (1998). Plus the same livery description of a former Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST arriving at Wicksteed Park Railway in the 1970s).

Best wishes, and drop my a line if you would like to meet up?

Greedy Boards
North Eastern Matters
mick b
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 3727
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 4:43 pm

Re: Dorman Long loco 'Beatty 139'

Post by mick b »

Looking at his activity he has'nt been on here since 2012 !!. Fingers crossed !!
mick b
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 3727
Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 4:43 pm

Re: Dorman Long loco 'Beatty 139'

Post by mick b »

Greedy Boards
GNSR D40 4-4-0
Posts: 208
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: York

Re: Dorman Long loco 'Beatty 139'

Post by Greedy Boards »

Hi Mick

many thanks for the info.

Have seen the web-site and image that you have kindly provided, and wondered if the green livery in the photo is correct? My research has suggested that Dorman Long locomotives were black, lined yellow, with yellow buffer beams and side rods in the 1950s, yet the image is one of a green livery. Does anyone out there have any idea of what would be correct, and did BEATTY 139 have a green livery from its Bolckow Vaughan period, pre-1929?

All the best

Greedy Boards
North Eastern Matters
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