The Yorkshire Engine Company (YEC) was a small independent locomotive manufacturer in Sheffield, England.

The idea of a locomotive builder based near Sheffield was first suggested in 1864 by W. G. Eden, who later became the fourth Baron Auckland.

He invited Archibald Sturrock, who was employed by the Great Northern Railway as its locomotive engineer, to be the Chairman of the new company.

Alfred Sacré would be the Managing Director, and his older brother, Charles, then the Engineer and Locomotive Superintendent for the MSLR, was also part of the team.

They were delivered two months late, the last in February 1867, and the company made a loss on them, largely because the works was not yet complete.

In order to keep the workforce together, other work was undertaken, including armour plated shields, lamp posts for the Chief Constable of Sheffield, and 10,000 safes.

Orders from three Russian railways kept the works busy, but difficulties in obtaining payment resulted in cash-flow problems.

They were 0-6-6-0 double ended machines, and the middle batch had Walschaerts valve gear, believed to be the first time that this design was built in Britain.

The Mexican locomotives were capable of burning coal or wood as a fuel, while two supplied to Sweden burnt peat.

In September 1883, the second Yorkshire Engine Company was launched, by issuing 2,400 shares valued at £25, giving a capital of £60,000.

In 1872, three Fairlie 0-6-6-0 Articulated Locomotives were supplied to the Mexican Railways for the Orizaba, Veracruz to Esperanza, Puebla Route.

The order for these locomotives had been given to the Hunslet Engine Company in Leeds but as it was already busy, the work was sub-contracted to Sheffield.

A flaw with these designs was shown up when the railway started running to Dungeness through the winter – a lack of protection for the driver.

Captain Howey and Henry Greenly started work on a pair of 4-6-2 locomotives based on Canadian Pacific Railway designs, with larger, better protected, cabs.

While Howey was in Australia, Greenly quarrelled with the management and engineers of the railway, before destroying the working drawings and departing.

The parts, including boilers, wheels and cylinders were shipped to the Yorkshire Engine Co. and the locomotives were completed in Sheffield in 1931.

USC needed replacement locomotives so it made sense to buy a manufacturer (at the right price) and the idea had been put forward of developing a central engineering workshop for their steelworks at Templeborough (Rotherham) and Stocksbridge.

Following the purchase, work began on building steam locomotives for the internal rail systems at several steelworks as well as ironstone mines around Britain.

The duty had special requirements for a locomotive to fit through a small opening and around tight curves while being powerful enough to haul heavy ‘Casting Cars’.

Other builders had shown that a type of hydraulic transmission, called a ‘multi-stage torque converter’, was cheap to buy, needed very little maintenance and was very easy to use.

These were very closely related to the standard small diesel-hydraulic locomotives but with a few modifications to suit their use on a main line railway (different arrangement of fuel tanks, vacuum train brake system and marker lights).

Yorkshire Engine Co built the chassis and bodies of the 10 prototype Class 15 locomotives under contract from British Thomson Houston Co Ltd (BTH).

The Durgapur works was developed in conjunction with United Steel Companies, so it is not surprising that YEC locomotives were used there.

Thirdly, nationalisation of the British steel industry was to take place in 1967 and it is unlikely that the locomotive business was wanted as part of the new corporation.

(Thomas Hill built three locos to Yorkshire design, for the Durgapur Steel Works in Eastern India).

The works passed to Rom River Reinforements in the mid-1990s but was closed early in the 21st century when the roof of the main building was deemed to be beyond repair.

Subsequently the works has been completely refurbished and is now (2009) occupied by the engineering firm of Chesterfield Special Cylinders.

Locomotives returned to the site on a regular basis between 1988 and 2001 when the South Yorkshire Railway Preservation Society used the few remaining railway lines in the Meadowhall works to load and unload preserved locomotives that were moved by lorry (the lines between the buildings were set into the roadway).

The yard was based on the army camp at Long Marston, which by 2007 was being used for storage of locomotives and rolling stock, both for preservation groups and commercial organisations.