GWR 2021 Class

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The GWR 2021 Class was a class of 0-6-0 saddle tank steam locomotives. They were designed by William Dean and built at the Wolverhampton railway works of the Great Western Railway between 1897 and 1905.

They were simple enlargements of the Armstrong designed 850 class of 1874. The changes were fundamentally confined to a longer wheelbase to permit fitting of a larger firebox.

Rebuilding with Belpaire fireboxes commenced in the early years of the Churchward era. Unsuccessful attempts to form a saddle tank around the firebox directly led to the switch to pannier tanks. The rebuilding was over many years. In this form, with and without fully enclosed cabs, 110 of them survived into British Railways ownership. Their BR numbers were 2021-2160 (with gaps). They were superseded by the short lived GWR 1600 Class, nominally a Hawksworth design, but in reality a straightforward update of the then 75 year old design, with new boiler, bigger cab and bunker.

[edit] Sources

  • Ian Allan ABC of British Railways Locomotives, 1948 edition, part 1, pp 16,51

[edit] See also

  • GWR 0-6-0PTlist of classes of GWR 0-6-0 pannier tank, including table of preserved locomotives