SLR Class 120 No. 123

No.123 is a green 2-8-2 diesel mechanical locomotive.
== History ==
No.123 was built in 1958 by Hudswell Clarke and company for the Sierra Leone Government Railway as their 120 class. No.123 was originally fitted with a Paxman six-cylinder YHXL Mk 3 Hi-Dyne engine like the rest of the class in which it was the third in all to be produced. No.123 was also originally fitted with a Vulcan Sinclair Dual Fluidrive transmission along with a final reduction gearbox supplied by Bostock and Bramley.http://www.leedsengine.info/leeds/locolist.asphttps://www.paxmanhistory.org.uk/hi-dyne.htmhttps://www.sierraleonerailwaymuseum.org/the-collectionhttps://static.wixstatic.com/media/ae8716_42a696b576ff4b0393369d00c71cefc9.jpg/v1/fill/w_440,h_581,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/ae8716_42a696b576ff4b0393369d00c71cefc9.jpg"The Narrow Gauge" Issue 74 (Winter of 1976/7) - http://www.ngrs.org/downloads/TNG.1-100/tng74-winter-1976.pdfhttps://www.facebook.com/sierraleonerailwaymuseum/posts/4124829294222568
In April 1964 it had it's 6YHXL engine swapped with a more conventional 6YHXL engine by Paxman and Drewry Car company transmissions replace the Bostock and Bramley ones. These modifications were carried out on another member of the class as well.
No.123 lasted in service until 1975 when the railway closed due to economic reasons based on the World Bank though in reality the closure of the railway was funded by the scrape value of the now deuterating railway and a corrupt government trying to make money.
However No.123 escaped the scraper's torch when it was stored at the back of the Cline town carriage works in Freetown along with sibling No.133 and other pieces of rolling stock. However when the Sierra Leone civil war started in 1991 the collection was feared to have been scrapped as the workshops were used as a home for people who had been displaced by the war.
The bloody conflict ended in 2002 and afterwards Colonel Steve Davies from the British Army who was also a railway enthusiast decided to venture to the works and see what he could find. He found the collection in relatively good condition despite the conflict and together with the owner of the works, support from the government and the National Railway Museum of the United Kingdom established the Sierra Leone National Railway Museum in 2005. No.123 is currently on display in the museum having been restored to static condition though the cylinder heads from one side of the engine block are missing.
== Trivia ==
* No.123 is the only locomotive in the world to currently have a Paxman 6YHXL engine.
== Bibliography ==
Category:Locomotives
Category:Diesel locomotives
Category:Diesel-mechanical locomotives
Category:2-8-2 locomotives
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:Built in 1958
Category:Sierra Leone
Category:2 foot 6 inch gauge
Category:Narrow-gauge
Category:Narrow-gauge locomotives
Category:Narrow-gauge diesel locomotives
Category:Six-axled diesel locomotives
Category:Eight-coupled locomotives
Category:Hudswell Clarke Locomotives
Category:Sierra Leone Government Railway
Category:Sierra Leone National Railway Museum
Category:Civil War Locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:Freight locomotives
Category:Africa
Category:Preserved diesel locomotives