Ruston & Hornsby 165DE Locomotive - 268881 MAZDA

This loco was the first built example of the 165DE class. These locos were produced by private builder Ruston & Hornsby at their Boultham Street works in Lincoln. A total of 164 were built, most with an 0-4-0 wheel arrangement but a few with an 0-6-0 one. Most were built to the standard track gauge of 4 feet 8 and a half inches but a few were built for export at 3 foot 6 and five foot three track gauge.

All locomotives shared a common engine and transmission spec. The power plant is a six cylinder Ruston 6VPH diesel engine with an output of 155hp. All electric traction equipment was supplied by British Thompson Houston (BTH). The engine drove a BTH generator and via the control gear the output voltage drove a single BTH traction motor that is mounted under the cab floor and drives the nearest axle via a single reduction gearbox. Power is transferred to the other wheelsets via coupling rods. The free end of the engine drives the radiator fan, dynamo for lighting and the compressor that charges the locomotives air system for the brakes, warning horn and sanding gear. As built the locos also had an air starting system which required a high pressure cylinder in the roof of the bonnet to be charged and the compressed air could be admitted to turn the engine over to start it via a valve in the driving cab. The system could be charged from flat by starting a combined petrol engine/compressor (Ruston PS1) that was mounted inside the bonnet. The air start system seems archaic by today's standards but one must remember these locos were designed to replace saddle tank steam engines that took over two hours to raise steam and be ready for work. The air start diesel could take 20 minutes from flat so this was progress. Of the 164 locomotives of this type built between 1950 and 1963 most went to industry where they were shunters. Six were ordered by British Railways (Western Region). These were 0-6-0 variants and were employed by the civil engineers on track work duties. The locos were initially known as PWMs but became class 97/6 under the TOPS scheme (pictured below right).



The loco in our care was the very first of the class built and was delivered from Lincoln to BTH at Rugby in 1950. This was appropriate as BTH had been a partner in the design. At Rugby the loco was the internal works shunter, the site was just to the north of the station on the downside and is now the Alstholm site. The loco was painted in Ruston's standard Lincoln green livery. BTH named it MAZDA after a brand of electric light bulbs the company produced, cast nameplates were carried on each side of the bonnet; these plates are unfortunately no longer in our possession as they were stolen in the mid 2000s.



When retired from use it was sold to a consortium of Coventry Steam Railway Centre members who took it to the Rowley Road site in 1990 and gave it a full overhaul. It was painted green and given red rimmed tyres (above right). The loco came into the care of the SERA in 2002 and remained in operation up until the closure of the Electric Railway Museum. The loco was given a full repaint into apple green with wasp stripes for its 60th birthday in 2010 (pictured below left). MAZDA was a regular performer at ERM open days up until the last one in 2017. The loco was one of the main shunters involved in moving stock around so it could be loaded and removed from the site in 2018 and itself was the last rail mounted item to be loaded to leave the closed ERM in June 2018 when it set off for a new life at the Battlefield Railway (pictured below right in Jan 2020).



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