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About this blog

I'm mulling over a supplement to my GWR locomotive development book.
New sketches I prepare will appear here (in small size).  Comments and corrections on the original (be nice!) and suggestions for content in the supplement welcome.
 

If you are planning a model of any of the locomotives featured in this blog you are very welcome to contact me and I'll see if there's anything I can do to assist you in researching for your model. 

 

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/An-Introduction-to-Great-Western-Locomotive-Development-Hardback/p/14507

 

 

 

Entries in this blog

Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway S1 Class

These were essentially updates of the S class (qv), slightly longer and with larger bunkers, and based on A1 class 0-6-2T design features. They also had a slightly larger boiler with a Belpaire firebox. They were delivered in 1920 by Hudswell Clarke. They were numbered 604-606. Plans to reboiler them with Standard 10 boilers were never acted on, although one did receive an enlarged GWR style bunker. They did acquire GWR safety valves and covers and some additional tank fittings. They were renumb
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway S Class

The S class were four powerful and heavy shunting engines, delivered by Hudswell Clarke in 1908. They bore a definite family resemblance to the R class 0-6-2T, with the same coupled wheelbase but a shorter boiler, a round topped firebox and smaller driving wheels. Their original boilers were replaced with A class boilers by the grouping. They joined the GWR as 608-611. In 1930, all were rebuilt with superheated Standard 10 tapered boilers and new GWR style larger bunkers. They were renumber
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway R Class (AR)

The last new locomotives for the Rhymney were ordered in February 1920, about the time when serious planning for the grouping started in the Cabinet (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7735748). Four were delivered by Hudswell Clarke in July and September 1921, and six from Beyer Peacock in December. They were slightly different in detail from the pre war R class. The classification AR doesn't seem to have ever been used in practice or officially but was certainly present on a
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway R Class

Stephenson’s built the first three locomotives of the R class in 1907. Although based on the design of the Ms, they had quite different boilers with a slightly larger barrel and a Belpaire firebox, and cylinders with the valves between the cylinders rather than above as in the Ms. Two more Rs followed in 1909. The last batch of Rs, known semi officially as the AR class, were delivered in 1921 and will follow in another entry. The Rs are commonly held to be the major influence on the GWR 56x
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway M Class

The last of the outside framed classes had been delivered to the Rhymney in 1900, and from then on the locomotives took on a much more modern appearance. The first were what was later to be called the M class, and the  detailed design is usually credited to Robert Stephenson & Co. All subsequent locomotives for the Rhymney, other than a pair of locomotives which started life as railmotor units, bore a distinct family resemblance. These locomotives form a complicated and rather incestuous gro
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway L1 Class

The L1 class were built as L class 2-4-2 saddle tanks with double frames. By GWR days two of them had been converted to 0-6-2T, given new design boilers based on those of the K class, and called class L1. A third conversion had been scrapped in 1921. The rebuilds presented an odd appearance, since the 2-4-2s had a small rise in the footplate over each crank on the drivers, but this was not repeated over the new leading driving wheel. The 0-6-2s, allocated diagram J, were scrapped in 1922 and 192
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway L Class

These were saddle tanks with double frames. Five were built in 1891 by the Vulcan Foundry. They had started life with a polished brass safety valve cover as well as the dome, not to mention elaborate lining out. As shown here the lining is omitted completely and its intended to be a post WW1 configuration.   The frames are rather different to the general run of 19thC RR saddle tanks.  By GWR days three had been converted to L1 Class 0-6-2ST, one of which had already been withdrawn.  
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway K Class 0-6-2ST/0-6-2PT

These were a version of the J class with a larger bunker, but I found more subtle differences than I expected. Again its very heavily indebted to the excellent WRRC volume on the Rhymney. This sketch represents a locomotive rather earlier in its career than the J class sketch, with the rather unusual long brass number plate.   Note that this one has Ramsbottom safety valves rather than the pop valves on the J. There was a horrific accident with one of these locomotives where a fit
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway J Class

This one might be the last for a while, because I get a little weary of doing too many of these sketches at a time.  This one owes a huge debt to the Welsh Railway Research Circle's excellent publication on the Rhymney,  Welsh Railway Records Volume 1, which was the source not only for the drawing I used as a foundation, but also provided some excellent photos. The sharp eyed who have the book might be able to see a number of (minor) areas where my interpretation of the photographs differed from
Rhymney Railway Locomotive Sketches

Rhymney Railway A and A1 Classes

The A class could be considered an enlarged S class 0-6-0T, and the S class a smaller R class 0-6-2T. The As had a smaller boiler than the Ms and Rs.They had 4ft 4½in driving wheels like the S class, the Rs having 4ft 6in. Stephenson’s delivered 10 As in 1910, and Hudswell Clarke 6 more in 1911. The A1s were essentially the same as the As except that the boiler was pitched higher, had a Belpaire firebox and was fitted with top feed. There were also small differences to the frames. Thre
Port Talbot Railway Locomotive Sketches

Port Talbot Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST - GWR 808 Class

These Hudswell-Clarke built locomotives were delivered to the Port Talbot in 1900/01. They weren't given any major rebuilds under the GWR but were lightly westernised. They were withdrawn in the late 1920s/early 1930s, with some sold into industry, . One has survived and is a popular and successful locomotive in preservation. In spite of being basically an industrial shunter type she works heritage line trains very capably.
GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR/WR 15xx Class (1948)

I was mulling over the design of the (to me at least) strangely appealing 1948 15xx. It was a pure GWR design, and it appears from the NRM drawings list that it was actually on the drawing boards as early as 1944. As Cook tells us it was designed as a "24 hour shunter", not needing to be serviced over a pit: a worthy aim, but rendered largely obsolete by the early 350HP diesel shunters that were being introduced at the same time. I've seen an interesting comparison made between the GWR 0-6-0PTs
JimC

JimC in GWR Locomotive Sketches

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GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR Nos. 28 & 50-53

More very early locomotives. These ones were designed and built by Robert Stephenson's.  Like No 25 et al these were built for the Shrewsbury and Birmingham, and the one with an out of sequence number had been sold to the Shrewsbury and Chester. A raised firebox and a dome rather than the gothic firebox of the Longridge engines, but similarities seemed very marked as I came to draw them. The very early days of steam traction seems to have been a very small world based round Northumbria. I was st
GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR Nos. 24, 26, 30, 31, 202-205

This design was specified by the Locomotive Superintendent of the Shrewsbury & Chester, Edward Jeffreys, and built by the Vulcan Foundry.  Four were ordered in 1852, and delivered in 1853. They were double framed, and quite powerful locomotives for the time.  In the meantime Jeffreys had left the Shrewsbury & Chester and was now Locomotive Superintendant of the Shrewsbury and Hereford.  Four more of the design were built for the S&H in 1853/4.  The S&C locomotives came to the GWR
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JimC in GWR Locomotive Sketches

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GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR Nos 93 & 94

Another early bird this one. These two were the first GWR built 0-6-0T, and belong to the Gooch era - built in 1860. They were quite small engines with 4ft 2in (or possibly 4ft) wheels. They were fairly typical Gooch designs with domeless boilers, raised fireboxes and Gooch valve gear. They had inside frames, small side tanks and a well tank under the bunker. When renewed in the 1870s, they were turned out as members of the 850/1901 classes, so it is probable that no significant parts were reuse
GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR Nos 9, 10, 12, 14, 22 & 23 (Ex Shrewsbury & Chester)

These were built in 1847 by Sharp Stewart for the Shrewsbury & Chester, and  came to the GWR in 1854 as part of the merger that formed the Northern Division and brought narrow gauge to the GWR. They were of a type known as Sharp singles that were delivered to a number of lines. One was converted to a tank engine, and a couple more had replacement cylinders but otherwise they were not greatly altered.  They were in service until the 1870s (1885 for the tank engine conversion). It's disappoint
GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR Nos 34, 35 0-4-0s (Shrewsbury and Chester - 1853) and 0-6-0s (Wolverhampton, 1866)

Numbers 34 and 35 seem to have been reserved for oddities! Later there were a couple of Dean 0-4-4Ts. The original GWR 34 & 35 were a pair of locomotives built by the Vulcan Foundry which the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway bought off the shelf in 1853, and one may suspect at a bargain price. They could be described as long boiler 0-4-0 tender engines, but the drive was not to either wheel axle, but to an intermediate crank axle, somewhat in the position that the middle driving axle of a lo
JimC

JimC in GWR Locomotive Sketches

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GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR Nos 25 & 46-49

Very early stuff this time. I've got an idea for a new publication, but the concept means I will have to have much better coverage of the early locomotives than I did in "Introduction to". So I think I'm going to have to do a lot of drawing, and this one is starting very near the beginning! Its tempting to simply reuse the E.L. Ahrons drawings in RCTS, which are out of copyright, but I don't feel comfortable doing it. As far as I can see no-one really talks about classes this early, but thi
GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR No 92

No 92 was one of five small 0-4-0STs, superficially rather similar in appearance, but which were not treated as a class.  With one exception they were late 19thC Wolverhampton reconstructions of older locomotives, and by the end of their long lives probably retained few original parts.  The first of the group was no 45, built in 1880, which was a new engine, albeit given the number of a Sharp Stewart built locomotive withdrawn a very few years earlier. It had the odd feature of a cab that w
GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR No 7 (1859) and 110 (1862)

Two very early ones. This is GWR No 7 from 1859, Wolverhampton works no 1, and the first Joseph Armstrong design for the GWR. Holcroft tells us that Armstrong, very much a member of the Northumberland school, was much associated with George Gray. Gray's designs for the Hull & Selby and LBSCR had the same feature of inside frames on the driving wheels and outside on leading and trailing wheels. They were also the inspiration for the well known Jenny Lind type. My sources are quiet on what mot
JimC

JimC in GWR Locomotive Sketches

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GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR No 40 (Ex Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway)

This was one of those locomotives which, for no reason apparent at this distance, was rebuilt time and again for a very long life. This is the  first GWR No 40, which was officially withdrawn in 1904! It was constructed as a long boilered 0-4-2 tender engine with outside cylinders in 1849 by R.B. Longridge & Co of Bedlington, for the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway, and was so well regarded that the S&B attempted to sell it without success. In 1854 it became GWR property. In 1858 Armst
JimC

JimC in GWR Locomotive Sketches

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GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR No 342 0-4-2ST

from an E.L. Ahrons sketch, this is No 342 in original or at least very early form. It was built in 1856 by Beyer, Peacock for the Commissioners of Chester General Station, which was jointly owned by the GR, the LNWR and the Birkenhead railway, and was bought by the GWR in 1865.         In this form it was really a slightly earlier version of Nos 91 and 92, also from Beyer, Peacock. In 1881 it was altered into an 0-4-0ST of much the same form as its cousins. The reb
JimC

JimC in GWR Locomotive Sketches

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GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR No 34 0-4-4T (1890)

One of a pair of small 0-4-4T constructed under Dean, its believed for branch lines with heavy curvature. They were superficially similar in concept to the ill-starred 3521 class, but considerably smaller, and like the 3521s went through a good number of changes in their early years. They started life in 1890 as 0-4-2 saddle tanks, with the same layout of much shorter spacing between the driving wheels than between the trailing drivers and the trailing wheels. In 1895 they were altered to the fo
GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR No 15.

GWR No 15 was a bar framed 0-4-0 by Bury. Note the domed firebox which it retained for its whole life in spite of other changes. Built in 1847 for the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway, it was withdrawn in 1903. This first sketch shows her around 1866.   And this second one about 1887, when it had been cut down in height.
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JimC in GWR Locomotive Sketches

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GWR Locomotive Sketches

GWR No 1490

Built in 1898 this odd experimental locomotive is arguably significant only as having the first set of pannier tanks. It had outside frames and an unconventional firebox, wider than it was long and  initially featuring water tubes inside the firebox. Apparently it was unsuccessful in its designed role as a passenger engine and was relegated to shunting duties before being sold off. Initially it went to the Ebbw Vale Steel and Iron Co, then to the Brecon & Merthyr at a time when they were par
JimC

JimC in GWR Locomotive Sketches

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