NS 4300

The NS 4300 was a series of steam locomotives of the Dutch Railways taken over from the British War Department. These Austerity locomotives, with a 1'D wheel arrangement, were built between 1943 and 1945 by the North British Locomotive Company and the Vulcan Foundry for the British War Department to supply the British Army in its fight in western Europe. A total of 237 were leased, though they were not all in service at once. Drivers, who had to stand on the left side of these English machines, had trouble with drifting smoke, so the Dutch Railways lowered the boiler pressure from 225 to 170 psi and extended the chimneys. The North British Locomotive Company built 545 Austerity locomotives in all.