The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

Pyracmon Class were

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s for goods train work. This class was introduced into service between November 1847 and April 1848, and withdrawn between August 1871 and December 1873. ''Bacchus'' was added to the class in May 1849 (and withdrawn in November 1869), having been constructed to broadly the same design from spare parts. The ''Pyracmon'' class were a development of the preceding ''Premier'' class, the first locomotives to be constructed at the new

Swindon railway works Swindon railway works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986. History In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of th ...

. They differed in having the ''Premier''s haycock firebox replaced by Gooch's stronger round-topped firebox with its wrapper raised above the boiler barrel. From about 1865, ''Bacchus'' became part of the Fury Class, while the remaining locomotives became part of the Caesar Class.

Locomotives

* ''Alligator'' (1848 - 1873) :An

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

is a large kind of reptile. * ''Bacchus'' (1848 - 1873) :This locomotive was built using the boiler from the unsuccessful ''

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

''. :

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

was the Roman god of the harvest, a name that had been carried by one of the Charles Tayleur locomotives built in 1837. * ''Behemoth'' (1848 - 1873) :This locomotive was sold to the engineers constructing the

Severn Tunnel The Severn Tunnel ( cy, Twnnel Hafren) is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn. It was constructed by the Great Western ...

. The

Behemoth Behemoth (; he, בְּהֵמוֹת, ''bəhēmōṯ'') is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation; he is paired with the other chaos-monster, Leviathan, and ...

is a monster in the Book of Job in the Bible. * ''Caliban'' (February 1848 - April 1873) :

Caliban Caliban ( ), son of the witch Sycorax, is an important character in William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. His character is one of the few Shakespearean figures to take on a life of its own "outside" Shakespeare's own work: as Russell ...

was a 'creature' from Shakespeare's '' The Tempest''. * ''Mammoth'' (1848 - 1873) :A

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

is an extinct form of elephant. * ''Pyracmon'' (1847 - 1872) : Pyracmon is one of the Greek mythological figures known as the

Cyclopes In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...

. * ''Steropes'' (1848 - 1871) :

Steropes In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; el, Κύκλωπες, ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguish ...

is also one of the Greek mythological figures known as the Cyclopes.

References

* * * {{GWR Locomotives Pyracmon 0-6-0 locomotives Broad gauge (7 feet) railway locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1847