Welsh Highland Railway® Rheilffordd Ucheldir Cymru

Hunslet 901 "Russell"

Hook Norton Ironstone

In 1941, the country had been at war for 18 months, and the WHR had been closed for 4 years. The country was short of iron and steel, needed to fight the war, and so the WHR was recresitioned by the Ministry of supply.
The Baldwin was cut up at Dinas, but Russell was taken to the Brimbo Steel works, refurbished, and sent to work at Hook Norton Ironstone Quays in the Cotswolds.
This was the first time that Russell escaped being scrapped, and the first time Russell was the only locomotive to survive.