Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway The Dublin and South Eastern Railway (DSER), often referred to as the Slow and Easy, was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland from 1846 to 1925. It carried 4,626,226 passengers in 1911. It was the fourth largest railway operation in Ireland ope ...

(DW&WR) 55 to 58 were

4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the u ...

built from 1895 at

Vulcan Foundry The Vulcan Foundry Limited was an English locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire (now Merseyside). History The Vulcan Foundry opened in 1832, as Charles Tayleur and Company to produce girders for bridges, switches, crossi ...

for express passenger duties on the

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

—

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

mainline. They were to remain the DW&WR's and subsequent

Dublin and South Eastern Railway The Dublin and South Eastern Railway (DSER), often referred to as the Slow and Easy, was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland from 1846 to 1925. It carried 4,626,226 passengers in 1911. It was the fourth largest railway operation in Ireland oper ...

's leading express passenger locomotive until the arrival of Nos. 67 and 68 some ten years later.

History

These

locomotives built from 1895 at

and named ''Rathdown'', ''Rathmines'', ''Rathnew'' and ''Rathdrum''. In their initial form they were poor steamers, the suggestion being the locomotive superintendent Grierson had specified larger cylinders on a previous design for an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

railway without balancing this with an increased boiler. His successor Cronin rebuilt the locomotives with Belpaire boilers resulting in improved performance. On amalgamation to

Great Southern Railways The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Irish company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State (the present-day Republic of Ireland). The p ...

in 1925 they became numbered 450 to 453 and allocated to class 450/D8. They were withdrawn between 1939 and 1940.

Operations

These engines took over the express passenger trains from the smaller 2-4-0 type on the DW&WR's

—

mainline route.

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DWandWR 55 4-4-0 locomotives 5 ft 3 in gauge locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1896 Scrapped locomotives Steam locomotives of Ireland Vulcan Foundry locomotives