Great Western 0-6-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 56xx (Locobase 3585)

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names. See also Peter Gilliam, "GWR 5600 Class" notes for his Akamaihid train simulation Release 2.1 (2013). GWR built 150 of the class with the last 50 supplied by Armstrong-Whitworth.

These moved coal traffic in South Wales. Daniels tells us that the 0-6-2T arrangement was settled on as "the best suited for the work and working conditions." Later, however, he comments that they ran better with the trailing truck leading. Elsewhere on his site, Daniels provides the clue that a driver-leading design would have better starting traction in certain conditions.

Peter Gilliam notes, however, that the class had a "long and fairly tortuous" introduction, in large part because they were rushed to fill a void in South Wales needlessly (Gilliam's view) caused by premature retirements of many of the "Taffy Tanks" that had served railways such as the Barry and the Rhymney for decades. The design itself suffered from the GWR's fitting of tight axle boxes, which the Rhymney's Caerphillly Works eventually diagnosed as owing to too little play in the axles. Gilliam describes the letter the Works' Director sent the GWR's chief mechanical officer Charles Collett as "strongly worded". Yes, he said, the 5600 was a high-quality design, but not suitable for the lines for which they were intended. (One specific flaw required the shops to remove frames before servicing the springs, "tiresome if not hazardous to those working on them.")

Whatever the objective merits, these cousins of the Rhymney "Taffy Tanks" did well. Their drivers, Gilliam reports, often ran the engines smokebox first when climbing away from the ports into the hills, then coasted back down with a loaded train with the radial truck leading. AW's engines were delivered with noisy brakes, which were then modified, but were otherwise satisfactory.

The class , surviving until their retirements in 1962-1965.