Great Southern & Western 2-4-0 Locomotives in Ireland

Class Class 2/Class 21/G4 (Locobase 20566)

Data from Ernest E Joynt, "Modern Locomotives of the Glasgow Southern & Western Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 23 (15 June 1917), pp.111-113. 17 was first, completed in 1872. The next six were delivered in 1873 and the last four came in 1873,

These stubby six-wheelers, designed by Alexander McDonnell, presented a very English profile when they entered service in the mid-1870s.

And they provided some of the motive power for main-line service when they first arrived. In the early 1890s, the Inchicore shops swapped out the simple vacuum brake system for one designed by the GS&W's J A F Aspinall and patented in 1878. It differed in using two train lines to ensure constant communication the ejector. Originally installed on all coaches, the second line was removed and the full system remained in use only on tenders and engines.

At that time, the class had been relegated to branch-line runs on light track. These trains included those from Portarlington to Athlone, Ballybrophy to Nenagh and to Limerick.

By 1917, eight remained on the roster.; all were off the roster by 1928.

Class Class 64 (Locobase 20568)

Data from Ernest E Joynt, "Modern Locomotives of the Glasgow Southern & Western Railway", Locomotive Magazine, Volume 23 (15 June 1917), pp.113.

These Alexander McDonnell six-wheel express engines presented a "very handsome" look, wrote Joynt. "The openwork driving splashers were picked out with the yellow and crimson lning on a dark green ground ...the standard colouring of the Great Southern and Western locomotives up to 1901." He added that they were "very economical in working ...favourites with their drivers. They were found somewhat rigid on some of the more severe curves, but were on the whole very well adapted for the loads and conditions existing at the time."

The tall drivers limited tractive effort and the class was out of service by 1898, the last two (64-65) then serving as pilot engines at Thurles and Limerick Junction.

See Locobase 20569 for the bogie successor.

Class unknown (Locobase 8417)

Designed by A McDonnell and described in "Some English Locomotives", Van Norstrand's Engineering Magazine, Volume 1, No IV (April 1869), p. 298.

There's little description about the service these engines performed, and the writer described them as "...possessing no striking peculiarities", but he praised the advantage taken of the width of the gauge "...to obtain a good large firebox." He noted that many of the running parts were steel "...including the guide bars, piston rods, axles, axle-box guides, and axle boxes."