The Taff Vale Railway U and U1 classes were
0-6-2T
T, or t, is the twentieth Letter (alphabet), letter in the English language, modern English English alphabet, alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Its name in English is English alphabet#Letter names, ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''te ...
steam
tank locomotive
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 locom ...
operated by
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stag ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
, from 1895. All were still in use when the Taff Vale Railway was acquired by 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 ...
in 1922, but were withdrawn from traffic between 1927 and 1931.
Overview
Tom Hurry Riches
Tom Hurry Riches (1846–1911) was a British engineer who became the Locomotive Superintendent of the Taff Vale Railway in October 1873, and held the post until his death. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest locomotive superinte ...
, the Taff Vale Railway's
Locomotive Superintendent brought out 2 similar classes, the U and the U1 for working passenger trains, both 0-6-2Ts. The only difference between the U and U1 class was in the
radial wheels which were in the former and in the latter.
The
boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...
s were identical with those fitted on the
N,
O and
O1 classes but worked at the design pressure of , the mixed traffic engines being worked at , or occasionally . The main differences from the mixed traffic engines were larger diameter
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 ...
s, a longer
wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
and replacing the usual
four bar motion with single bar.
Accidents and incidents
:
*On 23 January 1911 locomotive No. 193 was hauling a passenger train which was in a rear-end collision with a freight train at
Hopkinstown,
Glamorgan
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto ...
. Eleven people were killed and five were injured.
Numbering
See also
*
Welsh 0-6-2T locomotives
*
Locomotives of the Great Western Railway
The first Locomotives of the Great Western Railway (GWR) were specified by Isambard Kingdom Brunel but Daniel Gooch was soon appointed as the railway's Locomotive Superintendent. He designed several different broad gauge types for the growing r ...
References
;Source
*
U
0-6-2T locomotives
Vulcan Foundry locomotives
Railway locomotives introduced in 1895
Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Scrapped locomotives
{{UK-steam-loco-stub