 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(December 2014) |
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The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) O1 class is a class consisting of fourteen 0-6-2T steam tank locomotives, designed by Tom Hurry Riches, which were introduced to the TVR during the period 1894-1897.
| Year | Quantity | Builder | Serial Numbers | TVR Numbers | GWR numbers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1894 | 8 | Kitson & Co. | 3572–3579 | 27, 29, 37, 41, 65, 70, 73, 78 | 449, 451, 454, 455, 476, 477, 479, 480 | |
| 1897 | 6 | TVR Cardiff West Works | — | 28, 60–64 | 450, 471–475 | 28 preserved |
All were withdrawn from traffic between 1925 and 1931. [1]
Locomotive No. 28 is the last surviving Welsh-built standard gauge locomotive. It began its TVR career working the mineral and coal trains from collieries to port. By 1922 when the Great Western Railway had taken control, it had run 483,189 miles, and by 1923 was given a major overhaul, receiving a new boiler from the West Yard Works. [2]
Absorbed into the GWR fleet, No. 28 was renumbered No. 450, and given a GWR-style cover over its safety valve, its external design was unchanged. It was withdrawn from service on 30 October 1926, but was found to be in good mechanical condition and sold to the Government in 1927, for use on the Woolmer Military Instructional Railway, later called the Longmoor Military Railway. The engine was named "Gordon", after the General of Khartoum, and was kept in immaculate condition in Hampshire, performing relatively light duties compared to its TVR working days. [3]
The Second World War broke out and No. 28 was renumbered W.D. 205, then W.D. 70205, before becoming surplus again and put into storage. It was then sold in 1947 to the National Coal Board and used at their Hetton colliery railway. It was renumbered No. 67, though still retaining the "Gordon" nameplates as it engaged in heavy work on the coalfields again. It received a major overhaul in 1955, with minor alterations to its external design, but by 1959 it needed boiler repairs and was withdrawn from service in 1960. [4]
Following requests to NCB that it should be saved, locomotive 28 was successfully presented to British Railways for preservation in 1962. It is now part of the National Collection. It was originally intended that the last Welsh-built standard gauge locomotive be restored to original TVR condition at the Caerphilly Locomotive Works, however the site was given notice of closure and No. 28 was the last to leave for storage in Swindon and London. [5] [6]
In 1966, it was returned to Caerphilly as the National Museum of Wales had been given custodianship of the locomotive. In the 1983 the engine was restored to working order by the Caerphilly Railway Society and ran for about 7 years, until taken out of service to await routine boiler examination. Caerphilly Railway Society subsequently closed. [7] The locomotive then spent over a decade on loan to the Dean Forest Railway who dismantled it for a more thorough restoration, but this was unsuccessful due to the discovery of cracked springs. [8]
The NRM later in 2013 moved the locomotive to the Llangollen Railway where it was to be reassembled. [9] In 2013 the cosmetic restoration of No. 28 was set to go ahead thanks to a three-way partnership between the National Railway Museum, the Llangollen Railway, and the Gwili Railway, with the aim of returning the locomotive to original condition. [10] [11] In 2014 it moved to the Gwili Railway on static loan under the care of the Gwili Vintage Carriages Group, with the current agreement due to expire in February 2020.[ citation needed ]
On 1 October 2019 the National Railway Museum and Welsh Railways Trust (Formerly Gwili Vintage Carriages Group) announced a three-year overhaul agreement to return it to steam in a £160,000 project, part-funded by a £18,000 grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology. This grant will be used to restore the rolling chassis of the locomotive, which includes original Taff Vale Railway components. The overhaul will be carried out at the Gwili Railway, where it will then work.[ citation needed ]
The 4073 or Castle Class are 4-6-0 steam locomotives of the Great Western Railway, built between 1923 and 1950. They were designed by the railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer, Charles Collett, for working the company's express passenger trains. They could reach speeds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h).
The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stages in 1840 and 1841.
From 1839 the Trustees of the Marquis of Bute, operated a large dock operation in Cardiff, the "Bute Docks". This was very successful, but was overwhelmed by the huge volume of coal exported through Cardiff. At the same time it was seen that railway companies, especially the Taff Vale Railway (TVR), were making money conveying the coal to the docks.
The Rhymney Railway was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 1858, and a limited passenger service was operated in addition.
The Great Western Railway 3200 Class was a design of 4-4-0 steam locomotive for passenger train work. The nickname for this class, almost universally used at the time these engines were in service was Dukedog since the locomotives were composed of former Duke Class boilers on Bulldog Class frames. As such they were one of the last standard gauge steam locomotive classes to retain outside frames.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4200 Class is a class of 2-8-0T steam locomotives.
The GWR 5700 Class, or 57xx class, is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank 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 5600 Class is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive built between 1924 and 1928. They were designed by Charles Collett for the Great Western Railway (GWR), and were introduced into traffic in 1924. After the 1923 grouping, Swindon inherited a large and variable collection of locomotives from historic Welsh railway companies, which did not fit into their standardisation programme. GWR boiler inspectors arrived en masse and either condemned the original locomotives or had them rebuilt. The systematic destruction of many examples of locomotives, most still in serviceable condition, followed, but various were worked alongside 5600 Class.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4500 Class or Small Prairie is a class of 2-6-2T steam locomotives.
Great Western Railway 7800 Class No. 7821 Ditcheat Manor is a preserved British steam locomotive.
The Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway was built to bring the coal output of the Aberdare and Rhondda valleys directly to Alexandra Docks at Newport.
The steam rail motors (SRM) were self-propelled carriages operated by the Great Western Railway in England and Wales from 1903 to 1935. They incorporated a steam locomotive within the body of the carriage.
The Rhymney Railway M class was a class of 0-6-2T tank locomotive introduced into traffic on the Rhymney Railway in 1904. These were substantial sized tank engines, and weighed 66 long tons and were 36 feet 9 inches (11.20 m) in length.
Welsh 0-6-2T locomotives were a standard steam locomotive of the railways of South Wales. Many of the independent railways used them and, at the grouping of 1923, the survivors passed into Great Western Railway (GWR) stock. The GWR perpetuated the type in the GWR 5600 Class. The other major railway company in Wales, the LNWR, also had the LNWR Webb Coal Tank Class, though this was grouped into the LMS not the GWR.
The Taff Vale Railway A class was a class of 0-6-2T steam tank locomotives designed by J. Cameron for mixed traffic work and introduced to the Taff Vale Railway (TVR) in 1914. The A class was an enlarged version of the TVR O4 class designed by Tom Hurry Riches in 1907. The A class was the last new class of locomotive to be introduced on the TVR, which had introduced its first 0-6-2Ts in 1885 ; and, with a total of 58 built, was numerically the largest class of tank locomotive on the TVR.
7820 Dinmore Manor is a British Railways locomotive, part of the Manor Class. It is one of nine locomotives preserved from the class, which originally numbered 30.
The Taff Vale Railway O2 class was a class of 0-6-2T steam tank locomotives designed by Tom Hurry Riches and introduced to the Taff Vale Railway in 1899.
Cathays railways works was a railway engineering development by the Taff Vale Railway to provide its main carriage and wagon works, as well as its main railway depot for the entire TVR system, located in the Cathays suburb of Cardiff, South Wales.
West Yard Works was the Taff Vale Railway's locomotive repair and construction factory. It was located in Cardiff between Bute Street and the Glamorganshire Canal, about 100 metres west of Bute Dock railway station.
The Taff Vale Railway H class was a class of three 0-6-0T steam tank locomotives designed by Tom Hurry Riches, built by Kitson & Co. and introduced to the Taff Vale Railway in 1884. They were primarily used on the Pwllyrhebog Colliery Incline, and had special tapered boilers for this purpose.
