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 the design should be attributed to him or to his superior at Swindon,
William Dean.
In fact the 2021s were simple enlargements of the Armstrong-designed
850 class of 1874. The changes were fundamentally confined to a longer wheelbase to permit fitting of a larger firebox.
History
The class was built in eight batches:
* 2021-2030 (Lot D3, 1897)
* 2031-2040 (Lot F3, 1897–8)
* 2041-2060 (Lot G3, 1898–9)
* 2061-2080 (Lot H3, 1899–1900)
* 2081-2100 (Lot J3, 1900–01)
* 2101-2120 (Lot K3, 1902–3)
* 2121-2140 (Lot L3, 1903–4)
* 2141-2160 (Lot M3, 1904–5)
Rebuilding with
Belpaire firebox
The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and sq ...
es commenced in the early years of the
Churchward era. Unsuccessful attempts to form a
saddle tank around the firebox directly led to the switch to
pannier tank
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...
s. The rebuilding of the whole class took place over many years. In their final form, with or without fully enclosed cabs, 110 of them survived into
British Railways ownership, the last of them being retired in 1959. They were superseded by the short-lived
GWR 1600 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 1600 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive designed for light branch lines, short-distance freight transfers and shunting duties.
History
The class was based on the 2021 class designed by Dea ...
, nominally a
Hawksworth design, but in reality a straightforward update of the then 75-year-old design, with new boiler, bigger cab and bunker.
Coachwork
When
autotrain
The Autotrain was a type of passenger train used in the early 20th century, where the steam locomotive could be remotely controlled from the rear of the train. This meant that the engine would not have to run-around at the end of a journey bef ...
s were introduced on the GWR, a trial was made of enclosing the engine in coachwork to resemble the coaches. Nos 2120 and 2140 of this class were so equipped in 1906, as were two
517 class 0-4-2Ts. The experiment was unpopular with engine crews, and the bodywork removed in 1911.
See also
*
GWR 0-6-0PT
The GWR 0-6-0PT ( Pannier Tank), is a type of steam locomotive built by the British Great Western Railway with the water tanks carried on both sides of the boiler, in the manner of panniers. They were used for local, suburban and branch line passe ...
– ''list of classes of GWR 0-6-0 pannier tank, including table of preserved locomotives''
References
Sources
* Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1948 edition, part 1, pp 16,51
*
*
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
0-6-0ST locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1897
Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Scrapped locomotives
Mixed traffic locomotives
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