Alan Poxon explores the locomotive power behind Bord na Móna an Irish company created in 1946 to mechanise the harvesting of peat.
Bord na Móna is an Irish company created in 1946 to mechanise the harvesting of peat for electrical power generation, domestic fuel and horticultural products. The company had an extensive network of 3 foot gauge railways, extending for several hundred route miles. By 2020, Bord na Móna was transporting some 4 million tons of peat every year, from almost 100 peat bogs, to power stations, factories and horticultural plants.
Bord na Móna Hunslet Wagonmasters at Statfold Barn Railway.
Between 1946 and 1958, Bord na Móna purchased 148 Ruston & Hornsby 40DL and 48DL locomotives. This fleet of Rustons was modified during their working life with most fitted with Gardner diesel engines, some fitted with hydraulic drive and many with bodywork rebuilt. By 1958, it was clear that Bord na Móna needed a more powerful locomotive to handle increasing loads and longer distances travelled.
Hunslet Wagonmaster Bord na Móna LM200 from 1962 is the oldest example in original condition.
Bord na Móna designed a one-off 0-4-0 diesel mechanical locomotive with a jackshaft, that was built by Ruston & Hornsby. This was followed by an improved design that they constructed in their own workshops. Ruston & Hornsby were approached to produce this new design but would not agree to use an engine chosen by Bord na Móna. Hunslet, however, secured an order for 25 of what they named Wagonmasters. Deliveries of the new locomotive, with Ford engines, began in 1962.
Hunslet Wagonmaster Bord na Móna LM319 from 1979 is privately owned and now on loan to the Southwold Railway Trust.
Subsequently, 102 Hunslet Wagonmasters were supplied up until 1981 and the rugged 0-4-0 diesel locomotive became the mainstay of the Bord na Móna fleet. During the early 1980s, the need for a more powerful locomotive was again identified and Bord na Móna designed an improved Wagonmaster with hydraulic transmission. Hunslet produced 15 of this class of Wagonmaster between 1984 and 1986.
Hunslet Wagonmaster Bord na Móna LM334 from 1981
Bord na Móna then went on to produce 10 locomotives in their own workshops, based on the frames of old Hunslet Wagonmasters. By 2017, a total of 50 similar locomotives had been manufactured in the Bord na Móna workshops. With the mass closure of the Irish narrow gauge peat railways in recent years, several Hunslet Wagonmasters have been sold into preservation. These include a number that are to be found at the Statfold Barn Railway.
Bord na Móna Wagonmaster LM407 from 2006 is one of the more up-to-date examples of this class of diesel locomotive.
