The 3232 Class were 20 locomotives designed by

William Dean William, Will, Bill or Billy Dean is the name of the following people: Arts and entertainment * Bill Dean (1921–2000), British actor * Billy Dean (born 1962), American country music singer Sports * William Dean (Hampshire cricketer) (c. 1882� ...

and built at Swindon Works for the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

in 1892–93, were the GWR's last completely new 2-4-0 design. Their number series was 3232–3251.

Design

They resembled Dean's own 2201 Class and thus also Armstrong's 806 Class, though they had larger cylinders and a shorter

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

. All received Belpaire boilers in the course of the normal varied reboilerings.

Use

At the start of their careers these engines replaced their sister 2201s on Swindon-Weymouth trains, on South Wales expresses, and on fast North-to-West trains. Others were in the London and Reading areas, where others also moved when s displaced them from express working. A few went later to Machynlleth and Oswestry, where the last survivor was withdrawn in 1930.

References

* * {{GWR Locomotives 3232 2-4-0 locomotives 1B n2 locomotives Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Railway locomotives introduced in 1892 Scrapped locomotives Passenger locomotives in the United Kingdom