The

Great Southern Railways The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Irish company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State (the present-day Republic of Ireland). The p ...

(GSR) 222/234 Classes

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangemen ...

originated from 2 batches of 3 locomotives built for the

Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway The Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway (WL&WR), formerly the Waterford and Limerick Railway up to 1896, was at the time it was amalgamated with the Great Southern and Western Railway in 1901 the fourth largest railway in Ireland, with a mai ...

(WLWR) by

Kitson Kitson may refer to: People with the surname Kitson: * Kitson (surname) Other * Kitsonville, West Virginia, an unincorporated community, United States * Kitson & Co., locomotive builders * Kitson Meyer, an articulated locomotive * Kitson (store) ...

with a contract payment dispute resulting in the final two members going to Midland Great Western Railway becoming MGWR Class W.

Fleet

History

This class was a set of 2 batches of 3 locomotives for the WLWR designed by

John G. Robinson John George Robinson CBE, (30 July 1856 – 7 December 1943) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Central Railway from 1900 to 1922. Early life Born at Newcastle upon Tyne, the second son of Matthew Robin ...

. The lead member of the second batch, No. 2, was notable as the first Irish broad gauge locomotive to have a

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 squa ...

from new and the first to have the long slender chimney set to become synonymous with Robinson locomotives. The final two of the batch were held back on a payment dispute issue from the WLWR amalgamation into the GSWR in 1901 and opportunely purchased by the MGWR in the meanwhile. The locomotives were the first on the MGWR to have Belpaire firebox. Upon the 1901 amalgation the WLWR locomotives were renumbered 222, 237, 238 and 239 and retained those numbers with the merger into the

(GSR) in 1925. All four were rebuilt to the same specification in the period 1924–1924 and became GSR Class 222. These locomotives were used on goods traffic in the

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

and Tuam area. it was considered their maximum haulage load was 8 wagons less than the GSR standard goods. The MGWR locomotives were based at Mullingar and typically used on goods to

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road that links Dublin (to the south) with Enniskillen, Bally ...

and

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

. MGWR locomotive 141 seemed slated for early withdrawal leaving 142 to become the only member of GSR Class 234. By 1938 this remaining locomotive has become based at

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...

References

{{Ireland Steam Locomotives 0-6-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1897 Steam locomotives of Ireland W 5 ft 3 in gauge locomotives Kitson locomotives Scrapped locomotives