Powlesland and Mason were a company that provided

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, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s and crews for shunting within

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

Docks. The first name has sometimes been spelt "Powesland" and it is uncertain which spelling is correct.

Early history

Powlesland and Mason (P&M) were a Swansea-based firm that existed between 1903 and the merger of their railway operations into the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

(GWR) on 1 January 1924. As at 1 January 1924, P&M were operating nine steam locomotives on shunting activities within Swansea docks, supplementing the locomotives of the Swansea Harbour Trust.

Operations under GWR ownership

The GWR continued to use the ex-P&M steam locomotives for shunting and short-trip freight train workings throughout the GWR's existence. Latterly, some P&M locomotives were based at locomotive sheds away from the immediate vicinity of Swansea docks, including Danygraig shed, to the east of Swansea, which was located to the west of Jersey Marine railway station.

Locomotives operated

Powlesland and Mason utilised a fleet of nine 0-4-0ST saddle tank shunting locomotives on their railway duties within Swansea docks. The locos had been built between 1874 and 1916. The oldest, P&M No.7, was a former Raven Class

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

locomotive constructed for the

South Devon Railway Company The South Devon Railway Company built and operated the railway from Exeter to Plymouth and Torquay in Devon, England. It was a broad gauge railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The line had to traverse difficult hilly terrain, and the comp ...

in 1874, and was sold by the GWR to P&M in 1906. The P&M engines had been built by five different firms of locomotive constructors:

Peckett and Sons Peckett and Sons was a locomotive manufacturer at the Atlas Locomotive Works on Deep Pit Road between Fishponds and St. George, Bristol, England. Fox, Walker and Company The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, ...

(4 locos); Brush Electrical (2 locos); Avonside (1 loco); Andrew Barclay (1 loco); and

Hawthorn Leslie and Company R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The company was formed ...

(1 loco).

Preservation

Four of the locomotives survived to be taken into ownership of

British Railways Western Region The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right on completion of the "Organising for Quality" initiative on 6 April 1992. The Region consisted principally of ex-Great We ...

in 1948 and the last to be withdrawn from service was Peckett-built BR No. 1152 (P&M No. 12; GWR No. 935) in 1963. Today, only one Powlesland and Mason locomotive survives in preservation. This is P&M loco No.6 (GWR No. 921) built by Brush in 1903/06 and sold by the GWR in 1929 to a private operator for further service. It is on public display, but not operational, at the Mountsorrel Railway in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

wearing No. 921.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * RCTS. Locomotives of the Great Western Railway. Part 10. Absorbed engines, 1922-1947. 1966 {{refend Great Western Railway constituents Pre-grouping British railway companies Railway companies established in 1903 Railway companies disestablished in 1924