GWR 2602 Class
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The 2602 Class was a series of steam locomotives designed by William Dean and built at the Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway.


Design

They had outside frames to the six coupled driving wheels, but inside frames for the leading wheels. A distinctive visual feature, initially, was a large saddle-shaped sandbox over the first ring of the boiler. The class had two prototypes: No. 2601, which was a 4-6-0, while No. 2602 was a 2-6-0. These were built in 1899, and Nos. 2603-2610, all 2-6-0s, followed later, up to 1903. Though Dean was officially still in charge, Churchward's influence is evident in the rugged design. Their perhaps ironic nickname was after
Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South African Republic, South Africa, and President of the So ...
, the Boer War leader defeated by Lord Roberts in 1900.


Problems

Perhaps Churchward saw the chance of experimenting in the name of Dean, and this somewhat experimental class was not successful, the boiler with its high pressure and long combustion chamber gave trouble and the long stroke of the inside cylinders led to fractures of the solid crank axles. So the class was not long-lived and most were withdrawn around 1906. Several of the boilers were converted for stationary use in Swindon Works at reduced pressure, and remained in service there until the 1950s.


Aberdare class

Their numbers were adopted in 1907 by some of the last batch of the more elegant and reliable Aberdare Class 2-6-0s, which may also have re-used some of the "Kruger"s' parts.


References


Sources

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External links


Drawing of Kruger Class
{{GWR Locomotives 2602 2-6-0 locomotives 4-6-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1899 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Scrapped locomotives