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Kerr Stuart & Co Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer from Stoke-on-Trent, England.

Contents 1 History 2 Kerr Stuart Standard Designs 2.1 Standard gauge designs 2.2 Narrow gauge designs 3 Steam Rail Motors 4 Custom Built Designs 5 Diesel Locomotives 6 The Company in Liquidation 7 Preservation 8 References 9 External links

It was founded in 1881 by James Kerr as James Kerr & Co., and became Kerr, Stuart & Co from 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a partner. The business started in Glasgow, Scotland, but during this time they were only acting as agents ordering locomotives from established manufacturers, among them Falcon, John Fowler and Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning. They bought the last-named company in 1892 and moved into the California Works in Stoke to begin building all their own locomotives. Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning had also been building railway and tramway plant. This side of their business was sold to Dick, Kerr and Co. in Preston.

Kerr Stuart were known for producing a number of standard designs with many engines being built for stock and sold 'off the shelf' to customers. The names of these locomotive types were often derived from the purchaser of the first of that type or from the name it was given.

The Kerr Stuart designs are typified by having a single trailing truck (allowing a large firebox to be placed behind the driving wheels) and/or having a saddle tank. Several designs of side tank locomotive were produced that shared a chassis and boiler with a saddle tank design and it is not unknown for a standard chassis from one design to used with a different design's standard boiler to produce a locomotive to suit a customers special requirements.

Name	Wheel arrangement	Weight	Notes
Huxley	0-4-0ST	16 Tons
Witch
Moss Bay		29 Tons	named after Moss Bay Haematite Iron & Steel Co Ltd, Workington)
Rugeley	0-6-0ST	31 Tons
Priestley	0-4-0WT	25.5 Tons
Argentina	0-6-0T	34 Tons
Victory

Name	Gauge	Wheel arrangement	Weight	Notes
Wren		0-4-0ST	3.5 Tons
Sirdar		0-4-0T	6.5 Tons
Tattoo		0-4-2ST	6 Tons	Two examples survive in the UK Edward Thomas on the Talyllyn Railway and Stanhope; several remain preserved in Burma at the Burma Mines Railway
Darwin
Huxley		0-4-2T		At least one survives in working order on the Burma Mines Railway
Skylark			10 Tons
Joffre		0-6-0T		named after Joseph Joffre; the Joffre class was a French Decauville design built by KS under contract during the Great War; several examples have been re-imported into the UK, including Axe on the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway
Haig				named after Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig); the Haig class was developed from the Joffre as a result of parts being left unused at the end of the Great War. Two examples survive in New Zealand, and one - Sergeant Murphy - on the Teifi Valley Railway
Brazil		0-4-2ST	14.5 Tons	Several examples survive, including Excelsior on the Great Whipsnade Railway and three locos of the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway
Waterloo			15 Tons
Barreto		0-6-2T	10 Tons	At least one example survives, Superior on the Great Whipsnade Railway
Matary			17.5 Tons

Kerr Stuart had a large joiners shop and a significant passenger coach construction business. They were therefore very well placed to build the steam railcar. Their first was a diminutive 2 ft (610 mm) gauge saloon for the Maharajah of Gwalior in 1904 followed by a batch of 11 standard gauge railcars in 1905, six for the Taff Vale Railway, two for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, two for the Great Western Railway and one for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. The GWR gave a repeat order in 1906 for a further 12 slightly more powerful units. The largest rail motor order was for 15 from the Italian State Railways.

In addition to the company's standard designs the company accepted many orders to build to the customers' own designs in all gauges. The California works produced in 1903/4 a 4-6-0 design for several Irish 3 ft (914 mm) gauge lines including a 4-6-2T version for the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway. For Chile a very large 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge double six-coupled bogie Meyer followed in 1904 by five American style bar-framed 2-8-0 tender engines for the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge Interocianic and Mexican Eastern Railways. In May 1910 they built a 2 ft (610 mm) gauge "modified Fairlie" for service in Madras. This was not a Fairlie but just two 0-4-2T engines permanently coupled back to back, the only articulation being between the two complete engines. They received a repeat order for this combination.

A truly remarkable standard gauge build of 1910 was a class of four handsome 4-2-2 express passenger locomotives to the design of E.J. Dunstan for the Shanghai Nanking Railway. The order was received on April 19, 1910 and the novel design required the production of totally new drawings and patterns for all parts. Even so, the first engine was steamed just seven weeks later on June 8, 1910. In service these engines, probably the last, and the biggest, single driver engines ever built, proved to be fast (60 m.p.h.), smooth running, and very economical on fuel when compared with similar 4-4-0 engines on the same line.

From the 2 ft (610 mm) gauge Gwalior Light Railway in India, the company received several orders for locomotives and a wide variety of rolling stock over the years, culminating in the construction of four large 2-8-2 tender engines in 1928. Six very powerful superheated 4-8-0 mixed traffic locomotives built in 1929 were the last of a series of 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 machines built for the Buenos Aires Central Railway of Brazil.

In common with most British locomotive builders, in the post war era Kerr Stuart received a number of large orders from the mainline companies who were seeking to replace obsolete inherited equipment with their own standard designs. In 1920 the Metropolitan Railway ordered eight superheated 4-4-4 passenger tank engines for the Aylesbury service. Between 1925 and 1927 the Stoke works built 50 standard class 4F 0-6-0 goods engines for the London Midland and Scottish Railway and in 1929 and 1930 a batch of 25 GWR 5700 Class 0-6-0PTs were built for the Great Western Railway.

In the late 1920s a number of diesel locomotives were built of 30hp, 60hp and 90hp. They were very successful even though technology moved on quickly. Further development was stopped when Kerr Stuart's went into receivership, but the Hunslet range of diesel locomotives was based on these. At least 3 Kerr Stuart diesel locomotives have survived into preservation but none is in original condition having been given different engines.

In 1930 the firm's goodwill (Designs, spare parts, etc) was bought by the Hunslet Engine Company.

Some locomotives were built by W. G. Bagnall to Kerr Stuart designs. This is a result of the chief Kerr Stuart Draughtsman, and a number of other staff, being employed by Bagnalls. These locomotives include examples of the Haig and Matary classes.

The last steam locomotive built in Britain for industrial use, was a Hunslet built "Brazil" class engine in 1971. This locomotive is now running on the private Statfold Barn Railway.

The Corris Railway commissioned a new locomotive based on the "Tattoo" design of its original No.4 (KS4047) and this was privately built over a ten year period and went into service in 2005 as No.7.

Location	Class	Name	Works Number	Built	Arrangement	Gauge	Notes
West Lancashire Light Railway	Tattoo	Stanhope	2395	1917	0-4-2ST	2 ft (610 mm)	ex. Penrhyn Quarry Railway
Amerton Railway	Wren	Lorna Doone	4205	1922
Brecon Mountain Railway	Sirdar	Diana	1158		0-4-0T		ex Kerry Tramway
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre	GWR 5700				0-6-0PT	4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
	90hp Diesel				4wDM		Heavily rebuilt
Cavan & Leitrim Railway		Drummond	3024	1916	0-4-2T	3 ft (914 mm)
Corris Railway	Tattoo	No. 7		2005	0-4-2ST	2 ft 3 in (686 mm)	Design based on the railway's original Tattoo (KS4047), now running on the Talyllyn Railway
Foxfield Light Railway	Witch				0-4-0ST	4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
	90hp Diesel				6wDM		Re-engined
Great Whipsnade Railway	Brazil	Excelsior	1049	1908	0-4-2ST	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)	ex. Bowaters Railway
	Barretto	Superior	4034		0-6-2ST
Leighton Buzzard Railway	Wren	Pixie			0-4-0ST	2 ft (610 mm)
Lynton and Barnstaple Railway	Joffre	Axe	2451		0-6-0ST
Owned by Graham Morris	Wren	Peter Pan			0-4-0ST
Moseley Railway Trust	Joffre		3014		0-6-0T		ex. Gloddfa Ganol
Narrow Gauge Railway Museum			721		0-4-0WT	{2ft6in}}	ex. Dundee Gasworks
Ocean Beach Railway Dunedin, New Zealand	Haig		4185		0-6-0T		Regularly operated on passenger trains
Paraparaumu New Zealand			4183				On display outside a Macdonald's restaurant
Sandstone Steam Railway	Wren	Little Bess	4031	1919	0-4-0ST	2 ft (610 mm)
			4063	1924	0-4-2PT
			1344	1913	4-6-2T
Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway	Brazil	Leader			0-4-2ST	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)
		Premier
		Melior
Severn Valley Railway	GWR 5700				0-6-0PT	4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
Statfold Barn Railway	Brazil	Trangkil No.4	3902	1971	0-4-2ST	2 ft (610 mm)	The last industrial steam locomotive built in Britain, regauged from 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge.
Talyllyn Railway	modified Tattoo	Edward Thomas	4047	1921	0-4-2ST	2 ft 3 in (686 mm)	ex Corris Railway
Teifi Valley Railway	Haig	Sgt. Murphy			0-6-2ST	2 ft (610 mm)	ex. Penrhyn Quarry Railway, Heavily rebuilt
Teifi Valley Railway	Joffre				0-6-0ST		ex. Gloddfa Ganol
Vale of Rheidol Railway	Wren	Brockamin			0-4-0ST
Welsh Highland Railway	60hp Diesel		4115		6wDM		One of the earliest diesel locomotives in existence
Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway	modified Matary	Joan		1929	0-6-2ST	2 ft 6 in (762 mm)	Originally operated in Antigua
West Lancashire Light Railway	Joffre	Joffre	2405		0-6-0WTT	2 ft (610 mm)
unknown			3010		0-6-0T		ex. Gloddfa Ganol, now stored at the Yaxham Light Railway

• Horsman, Geoffrey (December 1964). ""The Kerr Stuart Wren Class"". The Industrial Railway Record (Nos 5 & 6): 85-99. 
• L.T.C. Rolt, A Hunslet Hundred, David & Charles, 1964, (Kerr Stuart & Company - pages 86-101).

• Preserved locomotive database