DWWR Ariel Class

DW&WR Ariel et al.
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Neilson & Co. Serial number 1122–1127, 1144 Build date 1865
Specifications Configuration: ​  •  Whyte 2-2-2WT Gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) Driver dia. 5 ft 6 in (1,680 mm) Frame type single [1] Loco weight 19 long tons (19 t) [1] Fuel type Coal Boiler pressure 120 lbf/in2 (0.83 MPa) Cylinders 2 Cylinder size 14 in × 20 in (356 mm × 508 mm)
Career Operators DW&WR Number in class 7 Locale Ireland Withdrawn 1895
[2]

The Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway (DW&WR) Ariel Class ^{[lower-alpha 1]} refers to seven 2-2-2WT well tank locomotives built by Neilson and Company and introduced in 1865. ^[3]

Ordering

In 1864 S. W. Haughton retired as locomotive superintendent of the DW&WR indicating the stress of maintenance of the 30 engines of the DW&WR as a factor, the workload being much greater than in 1849 when he had begun that role for the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR). ^{[lower-alpha 2]} His replacement, William Meikle, who himself was to retire with ill-heath within the year faced a pressing need to replace the ageing locomotives in use on the Westland Row to Kingstown and Bray services. ^{[lower-alpha 3] [5]}

Meikle had six tenders for the supply of between six and eight locomotives with Grendon of Drogheda quoting the highest at £2,000 per unit. Neilson and Company won with the cheapest quote of £1,564 and initially supplied six locomotives in 1965. A seventh added at a later date seems to be related to Banshee being exhibited at the 1865 Dublin International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures. ^{[1] [6] [lower-alpha 4]}

The engines were given the name of "supernatural personages": Ariel; Elfin; Kate Kearney; ^{[lower-alpha 5]} Kelpie; Oberon; Titania; and Banshee. ^[1]

Design

The locomotives used coal as fuel, ^[7] as opposed to the earliest D&KR engines which burned coke. They had straight weatherboards and were noted for a generous proportion of brass and copper-topped chimneys. Known to be painted green in the 1870s they were later painted is what was described as "ugly red" and modified with the fitting of cabs and stove-pipe chimneys. ^[8]

Murray notes the low power design was little better than the prior Burgoyne class. ^[1]

Service

External image
DW&WR Ariel Class
Neilson Locomotive Banshee, the one which appeared in the 1865 Dublin exhibition, in photographic livery Retrieved 18 October 2019

They were designed for the Westland Row to Bray coastal commuter route where they operated almost for the majority of their lifetime. Unusually for DW&WR locomotives they bore names rather than numbers though this was consistent practice with the previous practice on the D&KR section for which they were designed. ^[9]

Ariel was noted as the first to operate over the Dublin Loop Line to Amiens Street and last to be withdrawn. ^{[8] [7]}

In an incident at Bray Banshee suffered a burst boiler killing both the fireman and driver. ^[8] The locomotive was repaired and was sold to Fisher and Le Fanu. Oberton and Elfin went to Murphy's Brewery possibly at Bantry and Baltimore respectively. ^[7]

Murray suggests with their relatively short life and low power they were not a satisfactory investment perhaps evidenced by the fact none were rebuilt and Shepherds almost notes they were likely not successful. ^{[1] [3]}

Notes

1. Ariel Class is not an official name but a convenient mechanism for referring to the class. The DW&WR in common with most Irish railway companies of the nineteenth century did not formally designate locomotive classes.
2. At the D&KR in 1849 he also had other responsibilities
3. These would have been drawn from the 11 2-2-2 T tank engines passed from the D&KR in 1856, the four 20 ton locomotives of the Burgoyne class and the remainder based on the tank rebuild of the original Vauxhall engine. ^[4]
4. Banshee appears to have been exhibited at the exhibition as a DW&WR locomotive according to the catalogue whilst Murray says it was adopted by the DW&WR afterwards. Neilson had an adjacent stand at the exhibition displaying photographs of their locomotives
5. Became known as Kate for short

References

1. Murray (1981), p. 194.
2. Shepherd (1974), p. 140,143,199.
3. Shepherd (1974), p. 140.
5. Murray (1981), pp. 189,193–194.
6. Committee (1865), p. 5.
7. Shepherd (1974), p. 143.
8. Ahrons (1954), pp. 41,43.
9. Shepherd (1974), pp. 140,143.

Sources

• Ahrons, E. L. (1954). L. L. Asher (ed.). Locomotive and train working in the latter part of the nineteenth century. six. W Heffer & Sons.
• Murray, Kevin (1981). Ireland's First Railway. Dublin: Irish Railway Record Society. ISBN   0-904078-07-8.
• Shepherd, Ernie (1974). The Dublin & South Eastern Railway (1974 ed.). David and Charles. ISBN   0715363611.
• Committee, Executive (1865). Dublin International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures - Official Catalogue (4 ed.). OCLC   1041981471. OL   24649433M.

Further reading

• Ahrons, E.L. (1927). The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825-1925. Amen Corner, London: Locomotive Publishing Co. OCLC   2329259. OL   6715902M.