Midland Great Western Railway The Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) was the third largest Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was incorporated in 1845 and absorbed into the Great Southern Railways in 1924. At its peak the MGWR had a network of , making it Irelan ...

(MGWR) Classes 1,2,3,4,5 and 13 were

2-2-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement bo ...

locomotives acquired over the period 1847-1862 serving the railway in its formative years.

MGWR Class 1

The MGWR Class 1 were supplied by Thomas Grendon and Company from April 1847 with ''Dunsandle'' performing the trials and opening run. These engines were a replacement for a cancelled order from J & R Mallet of Seville Ironworks

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and arrived before the earlier order for MGWR Class 2 from Fairbairn. Juno was later converted into a 2-2-2T tank locomotive.

MGWR Class 2

Fairbairn supplied 6 engines in response to a quote in 1846, the engines being delivered from June 1847. They seem to have accumulated less average mileages than MGWR Class 1 and were withdrawn within 10 years apart from ''Orion'' which was converted to a tank engine in 1852.

MGWR Class 3

The six MGWR Class 3 locomotives were also supplied by Fairbairn in 1848. Built to a different design they had a longer service life than the Fairbairn Class 2.

MGWR Class 4

The MGWR Class 4 from Fairbairn were

Well 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 locomo ...

locomotives ordered for the MGWR's Galway extension in 1851. One of the original order of 4 was believed to have been sent to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. They had a long service life of nearly 50 years with some remaining in use as stationary boilers up to 1906.

MGWR Class 5

With the exception of Class 13 all subsequent locomotive builds for the MGWR were of engines with the driving wheels connected by

coupling rods A coupling rod or side rod connects the driving wheels of a locomotive. Steam locomotives in particular usually have them, but some diesel and electric locomotives, especially older ones and shunters, also have them. The coupling rods transfer ...

for better adhesion. The MGWR Class 5 engines were themselves rebuilt as

2-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles and no trailing wheels. The notation 2-4-0T indi ...

s beforce withdrawal and renumbered in the range 88-93.

MGWR Class 13

The final set of six

passenger locomotives for the MGWR designated Class 13 built by R & W Hawthorn of

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Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. They had double-sandwich frames, outside springs and cylinders. Their driving wheels at were the largest of any MGWR 2-2-2 locomotive. They were renumbered 43-48 between 1871 and 1873 switching the number range with MGWR Class 12 so all passenger engines could be brought into the number range 1 to 48.} Their final years saw them displaced from main line to branch services.

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* * {{Ireland Steam Locomotives 2-2-2 locomotives 5 ft 3 in gauge locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1847 01 Scrapped locomotives Thomas Grendon and Company locomotives Steam locomotives of Ireland