Vulcan Iron Works of Wilkes Barre, PA, (1860s to 1950s) was a builder of hundreds of small industrial type locomotives. In 1942 they produced an 0-6-0 Tank steam locomotive for the US Army Corps of Engineers, one of 382 in the class that saw service variously in the UK, western Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. It was shipped across the Atlantic in 1943 and operated in the UK as War Department No. 1960 until the end of hostilities. It was purchased by the Southern Railway (UK), and worked at Southampton Docks, and later at the Ashford wagon works until 1968. The embryonic Kent & East Sussex Railway preserved it for future heritage operations. Finally in 1994, with restoration completed it entered service for the next 10 years, until it’s boiler certificate expired. A second round of restoration was begun in 2012 and it was decided to return it to service in the striking blue livery of scrapped classmate No. 300, which was the last representative of the class operating on the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire. The original No. 300 was named after Major General Frank. S. Ross, a distinguished member of the US Army who was chief of transportation in the European theater of operations in the Second World War, and his name will be placed on #300. The restoration was completed late in 2017, just in time to delight Santa Special passengers. K&ES Ry has a second USA 0-6-0T, BR No. 30065, which is in queue to be restored by 2022.
