Scale Model - Railway Operating Division 2-8-0 Locomotive

The Railway Operating Division (ROD) ROD 2-8-0 was a type of 2-8-0 steam locomotive which was the standard heavy freight locomotive operated in Europe by the ROD during World War 1. During the First World War the Railway Operating Division of the Royal Engineers requisitioned about 600 locomotives of various types from thirteen United Kingdom railway companies; the first arrived in France in late 1916.] As the war became prolonged it became clear that the ROD needed its own standard locomotive, so the ROD adopted the Great Central Railway Class 8K 2-8-0 designed by John G. Robinson in 1911.
There were three batches of orders. The first batch of orders were placed between February and June 1917 for 223 locomotives.[2] The second batch of orders was for 100 locomotives, placed between February and August 1918; onwards, followed by an order for 188 more in Autumn 1918 to sustain the UK's locomotive manufacturing industry after the war.[ The 521 ROD 2-8-0s were built as follows: 369 by the North British Locomotive Company, 82 by Robert Stephenson and Company, 32 by Nasmyth, Wilson and Company, 32 by Kitson and Company and six by the Great Central Railway's Gorton Works.[3]
Of the initial order for 325 locomotives, 311 were shipped to France for war service.[4] The locomotives were mainly used to haul military supply and troop trains, plus some services for civilians.
After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 many of the class returned from France to the UK in 1919 and 1920 J & A Brown, a coal mining company in the Hunter Valley area of New South Wales, Australia, bought thirteen RODs to replace the older locomotives used on their Richmond Vale railway line.. They were bought between March 1925 and March 1927. The first three arrived complete on the SS Boorara in February 1926 and were unloaded in Sydney and hauled to their home base at Hexham. In late 1927 the rest arrived in crates on Brown's new ship the SS Minmi on its maiden voyage to Hexham. The dismantled locomotives were gradually reassembled with the last not being complete until 1931, but all thirteen locos were never in service at the one time. The maximum number in service at any one time was ten during 1954. The last of class was withdrawn in June 1973