F. C. Hibberd & Co Ltd

F. C. Hibberd & Co Ltd was a British locomotive-building company founded in 1927 to build industrial petrol and diesel locomotives. In 1932 the company acquired the goodwill of James and Frederick Howard Ltd. and the company moved to Park Royal, London, and began manufacturing locomotives there cite web |url=http://www.brc-stockbook.co.uk/hibberd.htm |title=Buckinghamshire Railway Centre history of F. C. Hibberd & Co. Ltd.] .

Many of Hibberd's locomotives were small machines with final drive by roller chain but it also built some larger ones with side-rod drive. The latter bore a strong resemblence to Hudswell Clarke products.

Hibberd used the name Planet for their locomotives but this should not be confused with the much earlier Planet steam locomotive.

Other companies

From 1956 Thomas Hill (Rotherham) Ltd, THR, sold Hibberd locomotives to non-Hibberd customers on an informal commission basis until 1960. The relationship ended because Hibberd were becoming worried that THR would sell their own locomotives to customers in preference to the Hibberd product.

The company was acquired by Butterley Engineering in the early 1960s and in 1964 production was moved to Ripley, Derbyshire. The last locomotive built to a Hibberd design was delivered in 1968 .

Preservation

Sources for this list include the UK Heritage Railways database [http://www.heritagerailways.com/rlylocos.html] .

The following list is incomplete so please expand it if you can. All locomotives are standard gauge except where shown in the notes:

Notes
* DH = diesel-hydraulic locomotive
* DM = diesel-mechanical locomotive
* PM = petrol-mechanical locomotive
# "Dudley" is believed to have been moved to Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, awaiting confirmation

References