The Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 (GWR) 1366 Class was a class of 0-6-0

0-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...

 pannier tank steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 built in 1934.

History and development

The 1366 class was one of only two pannier tank designs built by the GWR that utilised outside cylinders, although various existing engines inherited by the GWR had Pannier Tanks and outside cylinders. The 1366 class was developed from the 1361 Class

GWR 1361 Class

The 1361 Class were small 0-6-0ST steam locomotives built by the Great Western Railway at their Swindon railway works, England, mainly for shunting in docks and other sidings where track curvature was too tight for large locomotives.-History:...

 but differed by including a pannier tank rather than a saddle tank, Belpaire firebox

Belpaire firebox

The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium. It has a greater surface area at the top of the firebox, improving heat transfer and steam production...

, Stephenson valve gear

Stephenson valve gear

The Stephenson valve gear or Stephenson link or shifting link is a simple design of valve gear that was widely used throughout the world for all kinds of steam engine. It is named after Robert Stephenson but was actually invented by his employees....

, etc. They were designed to replace the 1392 Class.

Operational history

The six engines of the class all remained in operation to be taken over by British Railways Western Region in 1948. They were a useful design and because of their light weight and short wheelbase, were often used on dockside branches with sharp curvatures, including that at Weymouth, Dorset.

In 1950 three locomotives were stationed at Swindon and three at Weymouth. By 1958, two still remained at Weymouth, despite the shed now being within British Railway's Southern Region and one was now allocated to Taunton, with three locomotives still at Swindon. One example, No. 1369, survives on the South Devon Railway

South Devon Railway Trust

The South Devon Railway Trust is a charitable organisation that operates a heritage railway from Totnes to Buckfastleigh in Devon, alongside the River Dart...

.

See also

• GWR 0-6-0PT – list of classes of GWR 0-6-0 pannier tank, including table of preserved locomotives

External links

• http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_060_1366.htm
• http://www.southdevonrailway.org/1369-hist.html