Taff Vale 0-6-2 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 02 (Locobase 6320)

Data from chart of locomotives in service on 3 colliery lines on 1 Jan 1948 published on [] (viewed 12 Oct 2004). Info on the whole class from [] (viewed 15 Oct 2004), which shows ex-GWR locomotives that have been preserved. John Daniel refers to the original railway as the Taff Valley.

In most respects, these Class 2s were a continuation of the Class 1 described in Locobase 6319. They were, however, over 5 long tons heavier and had slightly longer boiler tubes (which are not reflected in the tube heating surface shown on the Lambton locomotives site). Like the 01s, most went to the Great Western after grouping.

Class 55 (Locobase 6381)

Data from Vulcan Foundry catalogue, ca. 1920 ([]) and [], which gives the information that these relatively powerful freight locomotives were VF works #1986-1991. As collieries increasingly preferred the 0-6-2 radial tank arrangement, the TV continued to enlarge the design.

10 more were delivered in 1910 to the same basic order.

Class A (Locobase 20068)

Data from "Six-Coupled Radial Tank Engines, Taff Vale Railway," Volume 21 (15 January 1915), p. 2; "0-6-2 Tank Engines; Taff Vale Railway", The Railway Engineer, Volume 35, No 12 (December 1914), p. 358; and "New 0-6-2 Tank Enginesfor the Taff Vale Railway", The Railway Engineer, Volume 41, No 3 (March 1920), pp. 107-110. Builders included Hawthorn Leslie (27 consisting of works numbers 3057-3062 in 1914, 3394-3409 in 1920, and 3410-3414 in 1921), North British Locomotive (6, works numbers 21156-21161 in 1915), Vulcan Foundry (13, works numbers 3178-3183 in 1916, 3492-3498 in 1922), and Nasmyth Wilson (12, 1269-1280 in 1919).

The LM report said that these were the first locomotives designed by James Cameron after he took over from T Hurry Riches as locomotive engineer of the TVR. RE's article included the observation that "As is generally known the gradients on the Taff Vale R (and on other South Wales railways) fall from the mines to the shipping ports." Cameron enlisted gravity to design the "smallest grate possible, consistent with dealing effectively with the up load." This perspective, said RE, determined the "economy in the consumption of fuel per trip."

RE's 1920 report on the Nasmyth Wilson batch included a smaller firebox area of 108 sq ft (10.03 sq m). It also laid out the benefits of the 0-6-2T arrangement for the kinds of traffic encountered on the TVR. Its short rigid wheelbase meant easier negotiation of sharp curves while its three coupled axles permitted "distribution of the weight of the engine favourably for adhesion. A single trailing axle increased the locomotive's flexibility "without materially adding to its length."

Likewise, using inside cylinders reduced oscillation, important when running such short wheelbases ahead of passenger trains traveling at "fairly high speeds" of 40-45 mph (64-72 kph).

Class O1 (Locobase 6319)

Data from chart of locomotives in service on three colliery lines on 1 January 1948 published on [] (viewed 12 Oct 2004). Info on the whole class from [] (viewed 15 Oct 2004), which shows ex-GWR locomotives that have been preserved. John Daniel refers to the original railway as the Taff Valley.

The Taff Vale was a healthy Welsh railway with a very large locomotive stud, including dozens of radial tanks built over many years. This class was built over three years and the later ones had two more boiler tubes (214) of slightly greater length (11 ft 1 1/4"); the Lambton chart gives 1,066.6869 sq ft -- love that precision -- as the tube surface area.

Most of those came to the Great Western at grouping in 1923. The GWR sold two of them to the Lambton Hetton & Joicey Colliery in 1930-1931.