British War Department steam locomotives in Greece, 1946

British WD steam locomotives by Greg Martin, 2002

Just as in World War One, the British government in 1939 formed the Railway Executive Committee (REC) in order to co-ordinate the activities of the various railway companies. Initially, the War Department asked the REC for second-hand locomotives to be used abroad. The following types of locomotive were supplied:
a. 0-6-0 (C). Great Western Railway (Dean Goods).
b. 0-6-0T (Ct). London, Midland and Scottish Railway (Jinty).
A number of these were captured by the Germans when they took control of France. They mostly returned to Allied hands as their armies moved across Europe following D-Day. After the war both types of locomotive saw service with SNCF in France. One example of the GWR Dean Goods locomotive worked around Vienna in Austria, and some examples found their way to China.

1. Heavy Freight Locomotives
Heavier locomotives were required for use overseas, so the REC made plans to use the Great Central Railway's design of 2-8-0 which had been built for use in World War One. However, these were old enough to compare unfavourably with types of loco in use at the time. The REC decided that the best was the 2-8-0 (1D) of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (these later became known as Stanier 8Fs, Stanier was the designer and 8F was the power classification). The design was developed as follows:
a. 2-8-0 (1D) Requisitioned from the LMS by the War Department (51 locos). Known as LMS 2-8-0's. Built by LMS Crewe and Vulcan Foundry.
b. 2-8-0 (1D) Small changes, including the fitting of air brakes. Built by North British Locomotive Company, Vulcan Foundry and Beyer Peacock. Delivery began in August 1940. WD numbers 300 to 899 (with gaps). Later renumbered WD 70300 to 70899 (with gaps).
c. 2-8-0 (1D) New design, simpler to build and using available materials. Known as the Austerity 2-8-0 (935 locos). WD numbers 70800 to 70879 and 77000 to 79312 (with gaps). Built by North British Locomotive Company (545 locos) and Vulcan Foundry (390 locos). First engine delivered January 1943.
d. 2-10-0 (1E) Lengthened version of the 2-8-0. Known as the Austerity 2-10-0 (150 locos). WD numbers 73650 to 73799. Built by North British Locomotive Company. First locomotive delivered December 1943.
16 of the 2-10-0 (1E) locomotives which had been used in the Middle East were sold to Greece after the war as class Lb (Lamda - Beta) on Hellenic State Railways (SEK), with running numbers 951 to 966.

2. Shunting Locomotives
More shunting locomotives, known as switchers in America, needed to be built. The REC looked at two designs: the LMS 0-6-0T (Ct) of the type known as Jinty and the 50550 type of 0-6-0ST made by the Hunslet Engine Company. They decided that something similar to the 50550 class would be best for the job, and so the Austerity 0-6-0ST (Ct) locomotive was born. They were made by: W.G.Bagnall, Andrew Barclay, Hudswell Clarke, Hunslet Engine Company, Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns, and Vulcan Foundry.
The Austerity 0-6-0ST (Ct) locomotives were given WD numbers from 5000 upwards, later having 70000 added, so the number series became 75000 to 75331. There were also internal combustion locos: 0-4-0 ic. (B) Built by Drewery / Vulcan Foundry and 0-6-0 ic. (C) Built for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

3. American Locomotives (USATC)
Sometimes the WD used locomotives which the United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) had brought with them. These were of four main types:
a. 2-8-0 (1D). Built by Alco, Lima and Baldwin. After the war some of these became Greek State Railways (SEK) class THg (Theta - Gama), running numbers 521 to 595.
2. 2-8-2 (1D1) Built in the USA. Type known as MacArthur
c. 0-6-0T (Ct) Built by Davenport, Vulcan Iron Works and H.K.Porter. After the war some of these became Greek State Railways (SEK), class Da (Delta - Alfa), running numbers 51 to 70.
d. Bo-Bo Built by Whitcomb.

4. German Locomotives
Lastly, when the British Army moved across Europe towards the end of the war, they found themselves working with German Kriegsloks (translated=war locomotives). These were all of the 2-10-0 (1E) type. When the war started the Germans needed more locomotives, so they built more of their BR.50 design. However, there were problems obtaining the right materials to be used by the builders and the design needed to be simplified so that fewer people were needed to assemble it. The resulting locomotives were the BR.50.UK (UK=Ubergangs Kriegslok, translated=transitional war locomotive).
The opportunity was then taken to thoroughly redesign the locomotive so that it used only materials that could be easily obtained and as little as possible of human effort during construction. The result was the very successful Kriegslok, which became BR.52. These were built by many manufacturers across Germany and in countries occupied by the German army. After the war, BR.52 locomotives could be seen at work across Europe. Some were even sent to Vietnam. A variation of the BR.52 had a condensing tender for use where water was in short supply, these were type BR.52.KON. Another variant of the Kriegslok had greater axle-loading to give greater tractive effort, but this restricted these locomotives to the more substantially engineered lines. The resulting Kriegslok locomotives became BR.42.