The Bristol and Exeter Railway locomotives worked trains on the

Bristol and Exeter Railway The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with ...

from 1 May 1849 until the railway was

amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

with 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 ...

on 1 January 1876. The Great Western Railway had leased the Bristol and Exeter Railway from its opening and provided the locomotives up until 1849. The Bristol and Exeter Railway in turn provided the broad gauge locomotive power on most of the railways with which it had junctions: * Bristol and Portishead Port and Pier Railway *

Somerset Central Railway The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercree ...

West Somerset Railway The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which i ...

and Minehead Railway *

Devon and Somerset Railway The Devon and Somerset Railway (D&SR) was a cross-country line that connected Barnstaple in Devon, England, to the network of the Bristol and Exeter Railway (B&ER) near Taunton. It was opened in stages between 1871 and 1873 and closed in 1966. ...

Exeter and Crediton Railway The Exeter and Crediton Railway was a broad gauge railway that linked Exeter and Crediton, Devon, England. It was 5¼ miles (8½ km) long. Although built in 1847, it was not opened until 12 May 1851 due to disagreement about the gau ...

Engineering

The railway established workshops at

Bristol Temple Meads railway station Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

in September 1854, the site later being known as

Bath Road The A4 is a major road in England from Central London to Avonmouth via Heathrow Airport, Reading, Bath and Bristol. It is historically known as the Bath Road with newer sections including the Great West Road and Portway. The road was once the ...

. Engine sheds were provided at major stations and on some branches including at

Taunton railway station Taunton railway station is a junction station on the route from London to Penzance, west of London Paddington station. It is situated in Taunton, Somerset, and is operated by Great Western Railway. The station is also served by CrossCountry ...

and

Exeter St Davids railway station Exeter St Davids is the principal railway station serving the city of Exeter in Devon, England. It is from the zero point at on the line through Bristol which continues to Plymouth and Penzance. It is also served by an alternative route to ...

. The engineer was

Charles Hutton Gregory Sir Charles Hutton Gregory (14 October 1817 – 10 January 1898) was an English people, English civil engineer. He was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers between December 1867 and December 1869. Charles was the son of Oli ...

until May 1850, when James Pearson was appointed as Locomotive Engineer. He designed several classes of tank engines, including large 4-2-4T locomotives.

Locomotive types

Broad gauge

* 1849 4-2-2 locomotives – 20 passenger locomotives * 1849 0-6-0 locomotives – 12 goods locomotives * 1849 ''Fairfield'' – a steam railmotor * 1851 2-2-2T locomotives – 7 small tank locomotives * 1854 4-2-4T locomotives – 8 locomotives with 9 feet wheels * 1855 4-4-0ST locomotives – 26 saddle tank locomotives * 1856 0-6-0 locomotives – 6 goods locomotives * 1859 4-2-4T replacements – 2 locomotives with 7 feet 6-inch wheels * 1866 0-6-0ST locomotives – 2 small tank locomotives * 1868 4-2-4T renewals – 4 locomotives with 8 feet 10-inch wheels * 1870 2-4-0 locomotives – 10 passenger locomotives * 1872 0-4-0T locomotives – 2 small well tank locomotives * 1872 0-6-0 locomotives – 14 ''Swindon'' Class goods locomotives purchased from the

* 1874 2-4-0 locomotives – 3 convertible passenger locomotives * 1874 no. 110 – a small tank engine, originally built for the

South Wales Mineral Railway The South Wales Mineral Railway was a railway built to serve collieries in the upper Afan Valley, and bring their output to a dock at Briton Ferry, in South Wales. It opened in stages, in 1861 and 1863. It was built on the broad gauge and had s ...

* 1874 0-6-0T no. 111

Standard gauge

The Bristol and Exeter Railway operated 28 standard gauge locomotives, all of which became GWR property on 1 January 1876. *0-6-0 – 6 built 1867–68: B&E nos. 77–82; GWR nos. 1360–5 Five of these spent a short while between 1870/71 and 1875 working as broad gauge locomotives. *2-4-2T – 2 built 1868: B&E nos. 83–84; GWR nos. 1353–4 *2-4-0 – 3 built 1874–75: B&E nos. 3, 1, 16; GWR nos. 1355–7 *0-6-0T – 2 built 1874–75: B&E nos. 114–115; GWR nos. 1376–7 *0-4-0T – 3 built 1875: B&E nos. 93–95; GWR nos. 1378–80 *0-6-0 – 10 built 1875: B&E nos. 116–125; GWR nos. 1366–75 *2-4-0T – 2 built 1876: B&E nos. 30, 33; GWR nos. 1358–9

Narrow gauge

The Bristol and Exeter Railway built two 0-4-0WT locomotives in 1874/75 at Bristol – numbers 112 and 113 – for working the 3 feet gauge lines in its ballast quarry at Westleigh, Devon to the main line at . They were renumbered 1381/2 when acquired by the GWR, and following the conversion of the line to standard gauge in 1898, were sold in 1899.

Locomotives in numerical order

GWR Swindon Class The Great Western Railway Swindon Class 0-6-0 broad gauge steam locomotives for goods train work. This class was introduced into service between November 1865 and March 1866, and withdrawn between June 1887 and the end of the GWR broad gauge in ...

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Shrewsbury'' * 97 : 1872 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Hereford'' * 98 : 1873 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Chester'' * 99 : 1873 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Windsor'' * 100 : 1873 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''London'' * 101 : 1873 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Bristol'' * 102 : 1873 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Gloucester'' * 103 : 1873 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Birmingham'' * 104 : 1874 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Wolverhampton'' * 105 : 1874 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Bath'' * 106 : 1874 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Newport'' * 107 : 1874 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Reading'' * 108 : 1874 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Oxford'' * 109 : 1874 ex-

broad gauge 0-6-0 ''Swindon'' * 110 : 1874 ex-

broad gauge tank locomotive * 111 : 1874 Broad gauge 0-6-0T * 112 : 1874 3 feet gauge locomotive for Westleigh Quarry * 113 : 1874 3 feet gauge locomotive for Westleigh Quarry * 114 : 1874 Standard gauge 0-6-0T locomotive for the

Culm Valley Light Railway The Culm Valley Light Railway was a standard gauge branch railway that operated in the English county of Devon. It ran for just under from Tiverton Junction station on the Bristol to Exeter line, through the Culm valley to Hemyock. It was int ...

References

* * * * * {{cite book , last = Waters , first = Laurence , title = The Great Western Broad Gauge , publisher = Ian Allan Publishing , date = 1999 , location = Hersham , isbn = 0-7110-2634-3 , url-access = registration , url = https://archive.org/details/greatwesternbroa0000wate Great Western Railway locomotives Bristol and Exeter