The South Devon Railway 2-4-0 locomotives were small 2-4-0T broad gauge locomotives operated on the South Devon Railway, mainly on its branch lines such as that to Ashburton. On 1 February 1876, the South Devon Railway was amalgamated with 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 ...

. The locomotives were given numbers by their new owners, but continued to carry their names as well.

Locomotives

King

* ''King'' (1871–1878) GWR No. 2171 ''King'' was a small side-tank locomotive built by the

Avonside Engine Company The Avonside Engine Company was a locomotive manufacturer in Avon Street, St. Philip's, Bristol, England between 1864 and 1934. However the business originated with an earlier enterprise Henry Stothert and Company. Origins The firm was original ...

. It did not last long as a broad gauge locomotive, being converted to narrow gauge in 1878. It then operated in this form until 1907 as GWR No. 2, after which it was sold to the Bute Works Supply Company. ''Named after a monarch, see

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

''.

Prince

* ''Prince'' (1871–1892) GWR No. 2137 ''Prince'' was similar to 0-6-0 Taurus, a small 2-4-0ST engine built by the Ince Forge Company three years earlier, works number 14 according to RCTS. It was converted to standard gauge in 1893 and operated in this form as GWR No. 1316 until 1899, after which it was used as a stationary engine and portable boiler at various locations including Crofton,

Portreath Portreath ( kw, Porthtreth or ) is a civil parish, village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about three miles (5 km) northwest of Redruth. The village extends along both sides of a st ...

and Dorchester

Prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...

until finally dismantled in 1935. ''For other uses of the name Prince, see

Prince (disambiguation) A prince is a member of royalty or of the high aristocracy. Prince or The Prince may also refer to: Places Canada * Prince (electoral district), Prince Edward Island *Prince, Ontario, a township *Prince, Saskatchewan, a hamlet *Prince County, P ...

''. * ''Jupiter'' * ''Mercury'' * ''Saturn'' Three more locomotives were under construction in 1876 when the South Devon Railway was

amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

into the Great Western Railway. They were similar to ''Prince'' except for slightly smaller dia × cylinders. The parts had been supplied by the Ince Forge Company for erection at

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...

, however the part built locomotives were taken to

Swindon railway works Swindon railway works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986. History In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of th ...

where they were completed as side-tank locomotives 1298, 1299 and 1300. 1299 was fitted with a crane for work at Swindon in 1881 (withdrawn September 1936), while the other two were stationed at

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

for working the

Culm Valley Light Railway The Culm Valley Light Railway was a standard gauge branch railway that operated in the English county of Devon. It ran for just under from Tiverton Junction station on the Bristol to Exeter line, through the Culm valley to Hemyock. It was int ...

and withdrawn in 1926 (1298) and 1934 (1300). The names are those of planets but were probably chosen for their mythological links, as many other South Devon Railway locomotives carried the names of gods. ''See

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

''.

References

* * * * * Tiny, ''Broadsheet 13 & 14'', Broad Gauge Societ

1985 * Railway company records can be consulted at

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

External links

Photograph of No 1299 as a crane tank circa 1928
{{SDR Locomotives Broad gauge (7 feet) railway locomotives 2-4-0T locomotives South Devon Railway locomotives Avonside locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1871