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The 1361 Class were small 0-6-0 ST steam locomotives built by the Great Western Railway at their Swindon Works, England, mainly for shunting in docks and other sidings where track curvature was too tight for large locomotives.
The 1361 Class were designed by George Jackson Churchward as an update of the 1392 Class, originally built in 1874 for the Cornwall Minerals Railway. As such they combined unusual and outdated elements, such as saddle tanks and Allan valve gear, with current Great Western details such as the cab, bunker and many minor fittings. [2] G.W.R. 0-6-0 T were generally being converted to have Belpaire fireboxes and pannier tanks by this date, but the firebox on the 1361 was round topped, so the saddle tank was more appropriate. The 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) wheelbase allowed them to negotiate 2 chains (132 ft; 40 m) radius curves, a feature necessary for their intended duties in docks and on lightly laid branch lines. Although, as is conventional, the design is credited to the C.M.E., Harold Holcroft was the junior draughtsman who did all the actual work on the class. [2]
The five locomotives were built at Swindon in 1910 and were set to work alongside the ex-Cornwall Minerals Railway locomotives. Their usual home was Plymouth Millbay, Devon, (later Laira shed) from where they worked in Millbay Docks and on the Sutton Harbour branch. Until 1928 some of the locomotives could also be found at St Blazey engine shed, Cornwall, where they worked on ex-Cornwall Minerals Railway branches, and also at Moorswater for working the Looe branch.
In 1920 one locomotive was transferred to Newton Abbot, Devon, for shunting the railway workshops there, a duty that was to continue until 1952. Other allocations were Taunton (1953–1961) for working at Bridgwater, Somerset, (again, mainly in the town's docks), and Swindon (1956–1961). One was tried briefly on the Weymouth Harbour Tramway in 1949, and another went to St Philips Marsh, Bristol in 1962.
The same basic design was used for the six 1366 Class locomotives built in 1934, but this time they were fitted with Belpaire fireboxes, pannier tanks and more modern cabs. When the 1361s were withdrawn their remaining duties were given to D2000 diesel shunters. All 5 locomotives served over 50 years of service.
One member of the 1361 class, No. 1363, was purchased for preservation by a group of members from the Great Western Society in 1964, two years after it was withdrawn from British Railways service at Laira. It was run to Totnes on the South Devon Railway under its own steam, and was restored there. No. 1363 is based at the Didcot Railway Centre, and as of 2014 was dismantled for overhaul to working order. [3]
| Number | Built | Withdrawn | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1361 | 1910 | 1961 | |
| 1362 | 1910 | 1961 | |
| 1363 | 1910 | 1962 | Preserved at Didcot Railway Centre, currently under overhaul. |
| 1364 | 1910 | 1961 | |
| 1365 | 1910 | 1962 | |
Kernow Model Rail Centre announced plans in 2014 to manufacture an 00 gauge model of the 1361 class in conjunction with DJ Models. The model is being made in partnership with the Great Western Society at Didcot. [4] Heljan models announced in 2015 plans to also manufacture a model of this class. Both manufacturers are offering the same livery variants (in some cases on the same locomotive modelled), and similar prices. Heljan's model was released in early 2017 in conjunction with a GWR 1366 class. Kernow's model, produced by DJ Models, was released in March 2018. Both models are manufactured in China. An 0 gauge model kit is produced by Agenoria, now marketed by Ragstone Models.
A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locomotive a tender holds some or all of the fuel, and may hold some water also.
George Jackson Churchward was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922.
The first Locomotives of the Great Western Railway (GWR) were specified by Isambard Kingdom Brunel but Daniel Gooch was soon appointed as the railway's Locomotive Superintendent. He designed several different 7 ft 1⁄4 in broad gauge types for the growing railway, such as the Firefly and later Iron Duke Class 2-2-2s. In 1864 Gooch was succeeded by Joseph Armstrong who brought his standard gauge experience to the workshops at Swindon. To replace some of the earlier locomotives, he put broad gauge wheels on his standard gauge locomotives and from this time on all locomotives were given numbers, including the broad gauge ones that had previously carried just names.
The GWR 5700 Class is a class of 0-6-0PT steam locomotive built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and British Railways (BR) between 1929 and 1950. With 863 built, they were the most prolific class of the GWR, and one of the most numerous classes of British steam locomotive.
The GWR 1400 Class is a class of steam locomotive designed by the Great Western Railway for branch line passenger work. It was originally classified as the 4800 Class when introduced in 1932, and renumbered in 1946.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 9400 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, used for shunting and banking duties.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 1366 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotives built in 1934. They were a useful design and because of their light weight and short wheelbase and were often used on dockside branches or other lines with sharp curvatures.
Charles Benjamin Collett was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway from 1922 to 1941. He designed the GWR's 4-6-0 Castle and King Class express passenger locomotives.
The GWR 0-6-0PT, is a type of steam locomotive built by the British Great Western Railway with the water tanks carried on both sides of the boiler, in the manner of panniers. They were used for local, suburban and branch line passenger and goods traffic, for shunting duties, and as banker engines on inclines. The early examples, such as the 1901 and 2021 classes, were rebuilt from saddle or side tanks when the locos received a Belpaire firebox – this type of firebox has a square top and is incompatible with a curved saddle tank. This process mostly took place during the tenure at Swindon Works of George Jackson Churchward. Only a very small number of saddle tank locomotives escaped rebuilding as panniers, notably the 1361 Class built new under Churchward in 1910, by which date a few of the 1813 Class had already been rebuilt as pannier tanks.
Laira Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot is a railway traction maintenance depot situated in Plymouth, Devon, England. The depot is operated by Great Western Railway (GWR) and is where their fleet of Class 802 InterCity Express Trains and remaining Castle Class trains are overhauled. Other trains visit for daily servicing including some operated by CrossCountry.
Joseph Armstrong was an English locomotive engineer and the second locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway. His younger brother George and one of his sons also became outstanding engineers in the employment of the GWR.
George Armstrong was an English railway engineer. He was in charge of standard gauge steam locomotives for the Great Western Railway at Stafford Road Works, Wolverhampton, from 1864 to 1897. He was the younger brother of his colleague Joseph Armstrong, but thanks to the special requirements of the GWR at a time when it was split in two by the broad and standard gauges, the brothers were able to work largely independently of each other. George is best remembered for his 0-4-2 and 0-6-0 tank engines; these were long-lived, and even when life-expired they were replaced by Collett and Hawksworth with remarkably similar locomotives, the well-known 1400, 5700 and 1600 classes.
The GWR 2021 Class was a class of 140 0-6-0ST steam locomotives. They were built at the Wolverhampton railway works of the Great Western Railway between 1897 and 1905. 1897 was the very year of George Armstrong's retirement, so it is uncertain if the design should be attributed to him or to his superior at Swindon, William Dean.
The GWR 645 Class was a class of 0-6-0ST designed by George Armstrong and built at the Wolverhampton railway works of the Great Western Railway (GWR). Thirty-six were constructed between 1872-3, of which three were built for the South Wales Mineral Railway (SWMR), two for the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway (C&CR) and the remainder for the GWR. In essence, they were saddle tank versions of his GWR 633 Class of 1871. From 1878, a further 72 of the class, partially enlarged, were added in the 1501 numbering sequence. Unlike the originals, the "1501"s had full-length saddle tanks from the start.
The GWR 2721 Class was a class of 0-6-0ST steam locomotives. They were designed by William Dean and built at the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway between 1897 and 1901.
Between 1854 when the Shrewsbury and Chester and Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railways were absorbed by the Great Western Railway, and 1864 when he moved south to Swindon Works, Joseph Armstrong occupied the post of the GWR's Locomotive Superintendent, Northern Division, at Wolverhampton Works. For ten years the task of providing new locomotives for the GWR's newly acquired standard gauge lines fell jointly to Armstrong and to his superior Daniel Gooch, the railway's principal Locomotive Superintendent who was based at Paddington.
The GWR Class 850 was an extensive class of small 0-6-0ST locomotives designed by George Armstrong and built at the Wolverhampton railway works of the Great Western Railway between 1874 and 1895. Aptly described as the GWR equivalent of the LB&SCR "Terrier" Class of William Stroudley, their wide availability and lively performance gave them long lives, and eventually they were replaced from 1949 by what were in essence very similar locomotives, the short-lived 1600 Class of Frederick Hawksworth, which in the headlong abandonment of steam outlived them by a mere seven years or so.
The 1016 Class consisted of sixty double framed 0-6-0ST locomotives designed by George Armstrong and built at the Wolverhampton Works of the Great Western Railway between 1867 and 1871. Like the earlier 302 Class of Joseph Armstrong, the 1016s had 4 ft 6 in (1.372 m) wheels and a 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m) wheelbase, dimensions that would remain traditional for the larger GWR pannier tanks right through to Charles Collett's 5700 Class, and with little change to Frederick Hawksworth's 9400 Class of 1947.
The GWR 1854 Class was a class of 0-6-0T steam locomotives designed by William Dean and constructed at the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway. The class used similar inside frames and chassis dimensions to the 1813 Class of 1882-4. In this they differed from the intervening 1661 Class, which had reverted to the double frames of the Armstrong era. Thus the 1854 Class belongs to the "mainstream" of GWR 0-6-0T classes that leads towards the larger GWR pannier tanks of the 20th century.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) experimented with oil burning steam locomotives at two points in its history. A single experimental tank engine was constructed to burn oil in 1902, and 37 engines of four different classes were converted to burn oil between 1946 and 1950. Neither experiment resulted in the long-term use of oil as fuel for steam locomotives. A single pannier tank locomotive was also converted under British Rail in 1958.
