The GWR Class 850 was an extensive class of small locomotives designed by
George Armstrong and built at the
Wolverhampton railway works
Wolverhampton railway works was in the city of Wolverhampton in the county of Staffordshire, England. It was almost due north of the city centre, and is commemorated with a small display of level crossing gates and a plaque. Known as the Staffo ...
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
Frederick William Hawksworth (10 February 1884 – 13 July 1976), was the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway (Great Britain) (GWR).
Early career
Hawksworth spent his entire career at the Swindon Works of the GWR. ...
, which in the headlong abandonment of steam outlived them by a mere seven years or so.
Construction
The 850 Class originally consisted of 50 locomotives comprising 48 new and two rebuilds. The rebuilds, Nos. 93 and 94, were supplied in 1875 and 1877 as renewals of the original
Gooch locomotives of 1860. Later, as locomotives were rebuilt, the 120 locomotives of the
1901 class were incorporated into the 850 class to make a total of 170 locomotives. It has been claimed that Nos. 1216-1227 were part of the 1901 class but this seems unlikely because they were built before the 1901 class was introduced.
;850 class
;1901 class
Modifications
The original 36 locomotives had their
domes
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
on the
firebox
Firebox may refer to:
*Firebox (steam engine), the area where the fuel is burned in a steam engine
*Firebox (architecture), the part of a fireplace where fuel is combusted
*Firebox Records
Firebox Records was a Finnish record label based in S ...
, while the domes of the rest were on the middle of the
boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...
. The two classes became more uniform on rebuilding. All had full-length saddle-tanks; the wheels were diameter, the wheelbase was , and cylinders . They had inside frames. Pannier tanks were fitted from 1910, as rebuilding with
Belpaire boilers took place, and from 1924 larger
coal bunkers were fitted to many of the class. Seventeen locomotives retained their saddle tanks to the end. These were Nos. 855, 864, 873, 990, 991, 1216, 1904, 1913, 1925, 1932, 1933, 1939, 1944, 1963, 1981, 1984, & 2007.
Use
The engines were widely spread over the GWR network. They were useful for shunting in dock areas, as at Plymouth, Bristol, Llanelly, and Birkenhead, which was their last stronghold; in 1881-2 four went new to the
Cornwall Minerals Railway
The Cornwall Minerals Railway owned and operated a network of of standard gauge railway lines in central Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It started by taking over an obsolescent horse-operated tramway in 1862, and it improved and extended i ...
. In 1906 and 1913 four were sold into industrial service, followed by four more in 1939. Up to 1927 the class were used on empty stock work at
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
.
Crane tanks
In 1901 two 0-6-4PT crane engines were built at Swindon for use around the works. They consisted of a class 850 engine with the frames extended backwards to hold a steam crane supported by a 4-wheel trailing bogie. They were Nos. 17 ''Cyclops'' and 18 ''Steropes''. A third, No. 16 ''Hercules'', followed in 1921. All three were scrapped in 1936.
British Railways
One 850 class (no. 992) and forty-three former 1901 class locomotives passed into
British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
(BR) ownership in 1948 and were given the power classication "2F". According to Ian Allan, BR called them 1901 class (including No. 992). Ten were painted in BR unlined black, and the last examples survived as late as 1958, the last Armstrong engines in service.
Only three unconverted saddle tanks survived into nationalisation.
Of these, two were from the 850 class, Nos. 1925 and 2007, which were withdrawn in 1951 and 1949. The other was
GWR 2021 Class
The GWR 2021 Class was a class of 140 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 ...
No. 2048, which was rebuilt as a pannier tank locomotive shortly after nationalisation and scrapped in 1952. Locomotive No. 1925 featured in the 1949 movie ''
The Chiltern Hundreds'' when it is seen arriving with a train at station.
Ian Allan
gives the following details for the 1901 class in 1948:
: BR numbers, 992 and 1903-2019 (with gaps)
: Total, 44 locomotives
: Weight, 36 tons 3 cwt (full)
: Boiler pressure, 165 psi
: Cylinders, 16in x 24in
: Driving wheels, 4ft 1.5in
: Tractive effort, 17,410 lbf
: Route availability, unclassed
References
*
{{GWR Locomotives
0850
0-6-0ST locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1874
Scrapped locomotives