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, ...

(GWR) 6400 Class is a class of

0-6-0 is the Whyte notation designation for steam locomotives with a wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. Historically, this was the most common wheel arrangement used o ...

pannier tank A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a #Tender ...

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, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

introduced by

Charles Collett Charles Benjamin Collett (10 September 1871 – 5 April 1952) was Chief mechanical engineer, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway from 1922 to 1941. He designed (amongst others) the GWR's GWR 4073 Class, Castle and GWR 6000 ...

in 1932. All 40 examples were 'auto-fitted' – equipped with the remote-control equipment needed for working autotrains. The 1936 GWR 7400 Class was a similar class, without the autotrain apparatus, but with a higher boiler pressure of 180 psi, providing a small but useful increase in power. An initial build of 30 in 1936-1937 was added to by

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...

in two batches each of ten locos in 1948 and 1950. These were destined for a short life, the briefest being only nine years. A minor visual difference between the 5400 and earlier 6400, and the later series of 6400, with the 7400 classes was at the join between cab and bunker. The 5400 and early 6400 had an arc whereas the later 6400 and the 7400 class was straight. The early locos also had a lip at the leading edge of the cab roof, whereas the later locos had a plain corner edge. Both classes were closely related to the 1930 GWR 5400 Class, which was in turn an evolution of both the Armstrong 1874 GWR 850 Class and the Dean 1891

GWR 2021 Class 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 ...

. Thus the basic design was almost sixty years old when new, the

driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled t ...

s being the main distinguishing factor, apart from the more modern profile. There were also superficial similarities with the

GWR 645 Class The GWR 645 and 1501 Classes were two closely related classes of designed by George Armstrong and built at the Wolverhampton railway works of the Great Western Railway (GWR). Thirty-six, the 645 Class, were constructed between 1872-3, of which ...

as extant in the 1930s, that also had wheels and

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

cylinders A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...

(and by then pannier tanks and full cabs).

Operations

The smaller wheels of the 6400's permitted operation in hillier locations than the 5400 Class and allocations were initially to the

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

valleys. Engines of class 6400 worked on many of the ex-GWR branch lines in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

and around Plymouth until the early 1960s, when the lines closed or diesel multiple units took over services. No. 6430 was a regular engine on the old

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy, from which its name derives. At the 2011 census, the three electoral wards (N ...

South branch line and would often run with two autocoaches. No. 6412 was allocated at Gloucester Horton Rd loco shed (85B) and operated one of the last 'Chalford Railcar' autotrain services between Gloucester and Chalford on 31 October 1964. Being allocated to Plymouth Laira the type was trialled on the former Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway, although a 1400 Class 0-4-2 engine was normally used.

Withdrawal

The below list shows when all of the original 6400's and later 7400's were withdrawn from service. The members of the GWR 6400 Class and the GWR 7400 Class were No. 6419 and No. 7439 respectively.

Preservation

Three of the 6400 Class have survived to preservation:

References

* *

External links

No. 6412 at the South Devon Railway

No. 6435 at the Bodwin & Wenford Railway

{{Authority control 0-6-0PT locomotives C n2t locomotives 6400 Railway locomotives introduced in 1932 Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Passenger locomotives

Operations

Withdrawal

Preservation

See also

References

External links