Tralee & Dingle Light Railway 2-6-2 Locomotives in Ireland


Class Details by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media

Class 5T (Locobase 6404)

Data from Flanagan, The Cavan & Leitrim Railway (1968), p 114.

This single Prairie tank was the builder's works #555. On the TDR, this was an oil-fired engine using Holden's patented burner design. Starr notes that a 2-6-2T arrangement was uncommon in such operations, but that the ability to run in either direction without using a turntable may have led to its purchase. Perhaps, he notes, but "it always was [turned]!".

According to Simon Starr on the website [link] (7 Dec 2004), this engine was well used and pretty much used up by 1902. Its reboilering came in 1906 and raised the engine's operating pressure to 150 psi. Starr continues: "No.5 then had a busy but humdrum existence for a number of years. She was used for a failed experiment in turf burning in 1944 during the massive coal shortages in Ireland at the time, though only managed to reach Emalough before the fire ran out."

5T didn't get to the C&L until 1949, where it saw "...almost constant use."

After the C & L closed in 1959, an American fan bought the 5T and later displayed in Steamtown when that facility was still in Vermont. In 1988 the loco returned to Ireland, where it was restored for the Tralee & Blennerville museum railway.

Principal Dimensions by Steve Llanso of Middle Run Media
Class5T
Locobase ID6404
RailroadTralee & Dingle Light Railway
CountryIreland
Whyte2-6-2T
Number in Class1
Road Numbers5T
Gauge3'
Number Built1
BuilderHunslet Engine Co
Year1892
Valve GearStephenson
Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase (ft / m)10.54 / 3.21
Engine Wheelbase (ft / m)15.08 / 4.60
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheelbase 0.70
Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender) (ft / m)15.08 / 4.60
Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle) (lbs / kg)
Weight on Drivers (lbs / kg)
Engine Weight (lbs / kg)87,360 / 39,626
Tender Loaded Weight (lbs / kg)
Total Engine and Tender Weight (lbs / kg)
Tender Water Capacity (gals / ML)816 / 3.09
Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal) (gals/tons / Liters/MT) 1.10 / 1
Minimum weight of rail (calculated) (lb/yd / kg/m)
Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort
Driver Diameter (in / mm)36.50 / 927
Boiler Pressure (psi / kPa)140 / 970
High Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke) (in / mm)13.5" x 18" / 343x457
Tractive Effort (lbs / kg)10,695 / 4851.18
Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort)
Heating Ability
Tubes (number - dia) (in / mm)138 - 1.625" / 41
Flues (number - dia) (in / mm)
Flue/Tube length (ft / m)
Firebox Area (sq ft / m2)70 / 6.51
Grate Area (sq ft / m2)10.80 / 1
Evaporative Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)601 / 55.86
Superheating Surface (sq ft / m2)
Combined Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)601 / 55.86
Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume201.54
Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information)
Robert LeMassena's Power Computation1512
Same as above plus superheater percentage1512
Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area9800
Power L12716
Power MT

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