Description and History of Site:-
In 1860 the site of the former E.B. Wilson's Railway Foundry, on Jack Lane, Hunslet, still lay dormant after the firms collapse in 1858 having lead to the creation of Manning Wardle on an adjacent plot of land (see WYK02256).
With the remaining plots of land still being advertised for sale, two personnel from Hunslet based Kitson, Thompson & Hewitson decided to start their own company. They were chief draughtsman William Shillito Hudswell and works manager John Clarke. They were joined by Dr William Clayton who provided the capital to launch the company.
They bought Lot 6 of the former Railway Foundry site. Even though the works were new, the name of E.B Wilson's
Railway Foundry was retained as the name carried a good reputation. The company started as General Engineers supplying equipment to local mills.

The first engine to be built was a Stationary Engine, Works Number 1 completed 16th April 1861, possibly for use within the Railway Foundry itself. On the same day two locomotives, Works Numbers 2 and 3 left the works. They were 0-6-0 saddle tank locos 'Wheatley' and 'Kenyon' built for the Buckley Railway.

In 1862 they were given the design work on William Bartholomew's compartment boats for the Aire and Calder Navigation. The choice of the company may have been influenced by Bartholomew, the chief engineer for the Navigation, and William Clayton, one of the founders of Hudswell Clarke, having lived on Spencer Place, Leeds. They provided at least one of the prototype Tom Pudding compartments but didn't get the main contract for their product following the design work.

In 1866 Joseph Rodgers joined the company and later lead the company to change it's name briefly to Hudswell, Clarke and Rodgers, later after Rodgers left the company in 1883 the name changed again to Hudswell, Clarke and Company.
Rodgers had brought to the company his Patent Pulleys which were wrought iron and were ''virtually indestructible'' and used in factory line-shafting. In 1891 an advertisement taken out by Hudswell Clarke, who continued to manufacture Rodgers Patent Pulleys after he left the company, claimed 80,000 pulleys in use. 120,000 were made by 1898 making them the largest pulley manufacturer in the world.

W.S. Hudswell died in 1882 and John Clarke died in 1890.

The Clayton family had taken an active role in running the company, with his sons involved with the engineering aspect of the company.

General Engineering started to be overtaken by the locomotive work. Most of the orders were for saddle tank locos but several 4 and 6 wheel tender locos were produced also. Most of the orders were for the UK, mainly contractor engines but some were exported overseas too. Many locos were produced for the Manchester Ship Canal (MSC) construction and went on to supply a sizable fleet for the MSC's own railway system, which would become the largest industrial railway system in the UK, even producing a 'Canal Class' loco, which were 6 wheel side tank locos with flange-less centre wheels to help negotiate the systems tight curves, designed with plenty of power for their size for the steeply graded track.

Eventually in 1930 Hudswell Clarke diesel power made an appearance in the form of D557 'Junin' for export to Chile, and at the time was the most powerful Direct-Drive loco in the world. 'Junin' survives to this day (2019) at the nearby Armley Mills Industrial Museum in Leeds. Steam production continued until 1961 however diesel orders dominated.

In the 1930's several orders were received for miniature one third scale 20'' (510mm) 21'' (530mm) gauge versions of main line steam locos for holiday camps such as Butlins and tourist railways such as Scarborough North Bay. These were diesel powered, and one, Works Number D565 of 1931 'Neptune', served as a test-bed of Diesel-hydraulic transmission for Hudswell Clarke. These miniature locos are the oldest surviving Diesel-Hydraulic locos in the world.

In the Second World War production changed to supplying munitions. Hudswell Clarke acted as sub-contractor for Blackburn's Aeroplanes to produce fuselages for the Skua aircraft. Also over 2000 sets of sub-assemblies for the Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers were produced, the aircraft then assembled at Blackburn's factory at Sherburn-in-Elmet.
Much of this work was carried out at Blackburn's Olympia Works at Roundhay Road (see WYK02324), space rented from Blackburn's by Hudswell Clarke.
Austerity locos were also produced at their Jack Lane site using nearby Hunslet Engine Co designs. (See WYK00100).

Post war, Hudswell Clarke produced the airframe for Britain's first nuclear bomb 'Blue Danube' at it's Roundhay Road site. They continued to be contractors for further versions of nuclear bomb airframes.

After the war the company expanded at Jack Lane, taking over the former J & H McLaren works next door (See WYK01423) when that firm moved to the former Kitson Works nearby. McLaren's former Midland Engine Works, itself a former plot of E.B Wilson's Railway Foundry, became known as the West Works.

The company continued with it's loco production and also produced large quantities of underground engines for coal mines.
In the 1960's there was a general downturn in the industry which effected Hudswell Clarke which lead to diversification into Civil Engineering equipment such as earth moving and pipe-laying equipment.
In 1961 they had built the last of the 1,807 steam locos they would go on to produce.

Nearby Hunslet Engine Company were busy buying up their rival companies whilst their values were depressed and were keen to buy Hudswell Clarke for their mine loco work.
In 1972 they bought the company. The Hudswell Clarke name was retained over the next decade mainly for after-sales service. Any repeat orders for Hudswell Clarke locos were produced in Hunslet's works with the Railway Foundry soon demolished.

The name gradually disappeared but Hunslet's success with the underground engine business was owed to Hudswell Clarke's designs and the orders they had acquired, right up to Hunslet's closure of their Jack Lane works in the mid 1990's.

Further Reading and References:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Pudding
http://www.leedsengine.info/leeds/histhc.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudswell_Clarke
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Hudswell,_Clarke_and_Co
See pp39-40 of http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/1758120614Z.00000000054?needAccess=true&
The Railway Foundry 1839-1969, Redman, R.N, 1972 Goose and Son, Norwich. p110.

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Key Words :- locomotive works engineers foundry

Viewing the Site :- Public footpath alongside road.

Address :- Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1AG
Grid Ref :- SE 30554 31970
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.783165 , Long -1.537779
Local Authority :- Leeds Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site cleared - no above ground remains visible
Site Dates :- 1860 - 1970's
Record Date :- 6 April 2019

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford