Great Western 0-6-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 1361 (Locobase 3587)

Data from "Great Western Ry", The Locomotive, Volume 17 (14 January 1911), p. 3. See also

[] (Information by John Daniel, 2000; later [], last accessed 23 February 2024) for details on this class, including all names. See also [], last accessed 8 September 2006

Designed by Harry Holcroft for dockside working in Plymouth and Weymouth. They operated for five decades until being replaced by diesels in 1961-1962. According to the GWR, these were unusual GW tanks in having outside cylinders, probably because the short wheelbase which allowed them to work in the tight dockyard confines also left little room for cylinders between the frames.

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Class 1366 (Locobase 3588)

Pannier tanks built for dockside working, such as pulling the Channel Islands boat express trains through the Weymouth streets. Later used in switching operations at Swindon. Retired 1961 (3) and 1964 (2).

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names.

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Class 2021, 2100 (Locobase 21172)

Data from "GWR 2021 Class" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 21 February 2024. See also "GWR Dean "2021" Class 0-6-0PT" on the BRDatabase at [], last accessed 21 February 2024. Works numbers were 625-764 in Lots D3, F3-H3, J3-M3.

Wikipedia notes that the first of this class came from Wolverhamption in George Armstrong's last year as locomotive superintendent. He designed the 850 class of 1874 (Locobase 20054 as pannier tanks), which was easily identifiable as the 2021's predecessor because only the firebox embodied significant changes, which in turn required a longer wheelbase. It isn't clear, Wikipedia contends, whose name should be associated with the design--Armstrong's or his superviser William Dean at the Swindon Works.

GWR introduced the 140 2021s over eight years from 1897 to 1905. By then, George Churchward had begun his 20-year reign as the GWR's chief mechanical engineer. As CME, he not only pressed ahead with new designs based on his experience in British and his research into European and US experience, but began backfitting the innovations in many earlier classess. As with all saddle tanks, Churchward's wholesale adoption of the Belpaire firebox led to its installation in these engines. Its shape led to removing the saddle tank in favor of a pannier tank (see Locobase 20054 for discussion of this change).

GWR began installing pannier tanks on 2021s in 1912, modifying most, but not all, of the saddle tanks. 110 saddle and pannier tank 2021s remained available when the 1948 nationalization created British Railways. The last left service in 1959.

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Class 2251 (Locobase 3594)

Few countries used the 0-6-0 arrangements quite as heterogeneously as did Great Britain. Probably because of the high engineering standards that accompanied the construction of much of its right of way, a British railroad could more easily dispense with guiding lead bogies or trucks for light traffic. Hence, when it came time to replace Central Wales goods engines from decades earlier, Collett introduced these sturdy tender engines. Like all Great Western locomotives, these had Belpaire fireboxes.

The class was quite successful and the GWR added to it over the next 18 years. The scale-model locomotive supplier site [] (visited 30 dec 2003) says these locomotives could handle light passenger trains at 60 mph; they were, the site's editor adds, "versatile, popular locomotives with good steaming capability."

Retirements began in 1958 and ended with the passing of steam in December 1965.

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names.

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Class 2361 (Locobase 3014)

Data from E L Ahrons, The British Railway Locomotive, 1825-1925 (London: Locomotive Publishing Company, 1926), p 280.

William Dean freight engines with an unusual placement of axle springs outside and underhung. They were otherwise similar to the 1883 engines except for smaller grates. Ahrons commented that these were the last 0-6-0 engines with separate tenders to take shape around double frames.

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Class 322 (Locobase 20219)

Data from Ernest L Ahrons, "The Early Great Western Standard Gauge Engines", The Locomotive Magazine, Volume 22 (15 February 1916), p. 23. Works numbers were 463-482 in 1864 and 581-590 in 1866.

By the time Joseph Armstrong moved from GWR's Wolverhampton Works to the still-bigger establishment at Swindon in 1864, standard gauge engines were the future of the railway. But the first locomotives to arrive were produced by this young, but already proven, builder.

Ahrons pronounced the design "amongst the most handsome looking machines that ever ran on the Great Western ...the curves of the framing bore all the marks of Mr Beyer's design."

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Class 3901 (Locobase 21061)

Data from "An Interesting Locomotive Conversion", Railway Mechanical Engineer, Volume (3 August 1907) pp. 164-165. See also a table of conversions at [], last accessed 25 July 2022.

Locobase 3013 summarizes the design and career of the highly regarded 0-6-0 Dean Goods locomotives. In 1907, the GWR began converting some of the class to Prairie tanks.

Conversion year original GWR number Year superheated

1907 2491-2492, 2497-2499, 2501, 2504, 2507-2508 1914-1917

1908 2464, 2495-2496, 2500, 2503, 2505, 2508-2510 1914-1917

1910 2496, 2502

RME's 1907 report describes the makeover as "much-altered". Indeed. For one thing, the round-topped boiler and firebox gave way to a slightly smaller coned boiler heated by a Belpaire firebox. The boiler held slightly more tubes, each of which measured 1/8" (3.18 mm) smaller than the earlier set.

Larger cylinders, still mounted inside the frames, were served by piston valves; they were cast in one one piece that included half the smokebox saddle.

Adding both front and rear trucks, each placed 7 ft (2.13 m) from its nearest driving axle, led to equalization of each truck with each set of drivers.

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Class 54xx (Locobase 3592)

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names; and GWR Collett "6400" Class 0-6-0PT, BRDatabase at [], last accessed 23 February 2024.

Charles Collett's pannier tanks built for auto-trains -- light passenger service in which the engine could be operated as a push-pull prime mover. The auto-train setup and general arrangement were trialled in 1930 on rebuilt 2120 class engine 2062 (Locobase 21172).

After this class had been in service for a time, the GWR, though satisfied with the design, concluded that the drivers were too tall. Later engines of this type had smaller drivers; see the 6400 class (Locobase 3591). .

Introduction of the diesel railcar led to the retirement of these automatically operated locomotives, mostly in the mid-1950s.

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Class 57xx/Tankies (Locobase 3590)

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names. See also Jim Champ, A Beginner's Guide to Pannier Tanks on the GWR .Org's website at [], last accessed 27 July 2022, Kevin Dare, myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kevin.dare/general%20info.html (visited 19 November 2002) and Robin Jones, Great Western Railway Pannier Tanks (Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, Ltd, 2014), Chapter 3 The Ancestry of the 5700 Class, (not paginated). (Jones, Robin. Great Western Railway Pannier Tanks. United Kingdom: Crowood Press, 2014.

Pannier tanks built over 16 years to replace a variety of much older pannier and saddle tank engines. They were bigger and used Belpaire fireboxes. Robin Jones noted that these flat-topped tanks lowered the water supply's center of gravity, which allowed for greater speed. Moreover, they solved the problem of fitting a tank over the boiler and the GWR's Belpaire firebox.

Kevin Dare wrote that these locomotives weren't built with superheaters because shunters didn't really need it. Two 5 1/8" flues were installed in the upper corners of the firebox to prevent cracking.

Most of the series were very similar, but the list of builders is quite long:

Armstrong Whitworth (7775-7799)

Beyer, Peacock & Co (8701-8724, 9700)

Kerr, Stuart (7700-7724)

North British (5700-5749, 7725-7774)

WG Bagnall (6700-6724, 8725-8749)

Yorkshire Engine (6725-6749)

Swindon produced the rest, including all those built from 1933 on. Note that they offered a useful amount of tractive effort for many kinds of switching and light train movement. Retirements came in 1957 and lasted until 1965.

In 2002, Mr Brian B Walters found and edited a set of driver's notes he'd written in 1952. He then put them on the web at [], accessed 9 May 2006). He says they were known in the Welsh valleys for the "heavy 'bark' " of their exhausts.

The TodoTren profile of the 57 series ([], accessed 10 May 2006) says that the pannier tank was created to solve the problem posed by the bulky Belpaire fireboxes being fitted to all GWR locomotives at the turn into the 20th Century. Because traditional side tanks would not clear the fireboxes ("despejar") and would see their water supply reduced, the railway mounted rectangular tanks with rounded corners on the sides of the boiler in positions that gave a lower center-of-gravity than the saddle tanks used by other railways.

The Todotrenes article (Locobase's translation) notes that the GWR had an "insatiable" appetite for 0-6-0s, proportionally double those studs of either the LNER or the LMS. Moreover, while the LMS and LNER began to use diesel locomotives for some work, the GWR preferred to build these pannier tanks.

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Class 64xx (Locobase 3591)

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names. See also Robn Elliott, "Some notes on the GWR 64xx class" on the Great Western Railway Archive website at [], last accessed 23 February 2024.

Charles Collett's pannier tanks were built for auto-trains -- light passenger service in which the engine could be operated as a push-pull prime mover. The first class to fill the role were the 54xx class, but their drivers proved not fully successful in the hilly sections of Wales, so the 6400s introduced the smaller, hill-climbing drivers and retained the Belpaire fireboxes. The 40 engines of the class emerged from Swindon between Febreuary 1932 and April 1937.

Retirements came in 1960 and lasted until 1964

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Class 74xx (Locobase 3593)

Data from "5400 tank class introduction" in Johon Daniel's Great Western Archive at [] and "GWR 7400 Class" in Wikipedia at [], last accessed 31 August 2024.

Although identical in most respects to the 5400 (Locobase 3592)/6400 (Locobase 3591) auto-train pannier tanks, this class operated conventionally (i.e. without the bi-directional auto-train system) on light passenger and freight service in Wales. Like the 6400s, the 7400s rolled on drivers reduced by 6 1/2" (165 mm) in diameter from those of the 5400s.

Other differences from the 6400s included boiler pressure increased by 15 psi (1.03 bar) and GWR's lever reverser. The 7400's boiler included two 5 1/8" (130 mm) flues as well as the 213 tubes.

The first batch of 30 locomotives came from Swindon in 1936-1937.

British Railways later added two more batches of ten each in 1948 and 1950. As BR phased out steam, this class's retirements came in 1960 and lasted until 1965.

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Class 850/1901 (Locobase 20054)

Data from "Great Western Ry", The Locomotive, Volume 18 (15 April 1912), p. 71. See also

Wikipedia's 850 class entry at , last accessed 7 February 2016 and Jim Champ, "A Beginner's Guide to Pannier Tanks" at the [] website, also last accessed 7 February 2016.

The original 850 class of 170 six-coupled saddle-tank locomotives appeared beginning in 1874. George Armstrong turned out 48 original locomotives in the 850 series between 1874 and 1876; two more joined the class as rebuilds. In 1881, production resumed as the 1901 class, although other than the provision of open cabs and thicker tires, the two classes were essentially identical.

Beginning in 1910 the GWR began a long-running retrofit program of the 170-member classthat replaced the original boiler with an R-type boiler using a square-shouldered Belpaire firebox. Wikipedia reported the Belpaire firebox's shape didn't fit well behind saddle tanks, complicating efforts to present water leaks.. So most of the 170 saddle-tank engines received pannier (also known as "wing") tanks. Jim Champ reported that the original round-top boilers proved quite durable and pannier tanks were installed on them before their firebox conversions.

These were long-lived utility vehicles. Forty-four, all but one 1901s, transferred to British Railways in 1948 with the last one retiring in 1958.

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Class 94xx (Locobase 6334)

Data from [] and [], the latter last accessed 25 September 2006.

According to John Daniel's Great Western listing, the railway's shops at Swindon manufactured the first 10 in 1947. Robert Stephenson & Company built 90 in 1950-1953, Yorkshire contributed 50 in in 1949-1952 and 1954-1956, and Bagnall delivered 30 in 1949-1952 and 20 more in 1953-1954. Only the first 10 had superheaters.

The 94s, like most of the Great Western's pannier tanks, had inside cylinders fed by slide valves moved by Stephenson valve gear. They were unusual in their tapered boilers, which no doubt stemmed from the boiler's origins in the 2251 tender engines put in service earlier by Collett. The class proved to be powerful heavy switchers, especially on the notorious Lickey Incline.

One driver, quoted in "Thoughts of a BR Footplateman", felt that the 94xx was not as "gutsy" as the 57xx, "so when having to push a long line of wagons for shunting, we would have to ensure the number of wagons was not as great ..." The 94xx "...liked to be fired as a 42xx engine, coal placed down the middle, keeping the front and sides hot ...we came to the conclusion that the firebox with its different longer shape and slightly larger box made it more efficient for steaming than the pannier tank 57xx class."

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Class Dean Goods/23xx (Locobase 3013)

Data from "An Interesting Locomotive Conversion", Railway Mechanical Engineer, Volume (3 August 1907) pp. 164-165. See also "No. 2516 Dean Goods" on the Great Western Steam website at [], last accessed 21 July 2022. See also John Cropsey, Great Western Railway Journal #13 (Winter 1995), pp.; and "Steam Locomotives of a more Leisurely Era - GWR 1883 - Dean Goods", Posted on May 5, 2011 |

William Dean freight engines of two sub-classes. The twenty 1883 engines had domeless boilers, the 1884 batch had large domes on the first ring; all 260 used the GWR-preferred Belpaire firebox. According to John Copsey, their introduction immediately led to express passenger work as they could pull more than the 2-4-0 and 4-4-0s already in service. In addition, they were called on for local passenger trains as well as for special excursions.

Many of the class were drafted into the Railway Operating Division (ROD) during World War I. STEAM GWR's account reports that they served in France and Salonika (northern Greece) where they were found to be "lightweight, strong, and reliable, making them ideal for war work. Inexperienced crews also found them easy to drive." Called to military duty again in World War II, 108 went to France (32 of this group had gone in World War I). Most failed to escape German forces in May-June 1940, many were destroyed and others were requisitioned for French railway operation.

Most remained in their original 0-6-0 configuration. In 1907, however, the GWR began converting 20 of the class to 2-6-2Ts; see Locobase 21

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Class Druid (Locobase 10216)

Data from "The BG Locomotives of the Great Western Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VII (April 1902), p.65.

This was the next step in the growth of the basic 0-6-0 design (Locobase 3219) then being built at Swindon. It had slightly more cylinder volume and weighed almost 4 tons more. These were soon followed by engines showing a sizable jump in heating surface area; see Locobase 10217.

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Class Giaour (Locobase 10217)

Data from "The BG Locomotives of the Great Western Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VII (April 1902), p.65.

Swindon now took greater advantage of the vast expanse offered by the 7' gauge to produce engines that were quite a bit bigger than similar locomotives on other British railways. Note that this class, which began with Giaour and came to include 25 other locomotives delivered in 1852-1854, had 2" tubes and quite a few of them. Even though the engine weight dropped slightly from the Druids (Locobase 10216), the maximum axle loading (on the middle axle, which took the connecting rod) increased.

And more would follow:

The Sixth Series, which came out of Swindon in 1854-1856, 36 locomotives that differed only in details from the Giaours. BP was now set at 120 psi.

1857-1863 in batches of 7, 33, and 12.

Four additional locomotives (Juno, Iago, Plato, Bichon).were built as saddle tanks (0-6-0ST), but had very similar dimensions and areas.

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Class Pyracmon (Locobase 3219)

Data from "The BG Locomotives of the Great Western Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VI (December 1901), p.200. See also Glover (1967)

Daniel Gooch's classic freight design built with inside frames and had rounded and raised fireboxes.

A later batch had a 54" diameter boiler holding 249 2" tubes and a grate area of 19.2 sq ft, which increased the free-gas ratio (total cross-section of tubes to grate area) to a still more impressive 28.29%. (Locobase wonders if that might have been too much of a good thing ...) As with the express engines, the 7-foot gauge allowed generous dimensions in both the boiler and the firebox.