MGWR Class D

Midland Great Western Railway D
Type and origin
Power type Steam
Builder Beyer, Peacock & Co.
Order number 3924
Serial number 1960–1965
Build date 1880–1881
Total produced 6
Rebuild date 1900–1901
Number rebuilt 6
Specifications
Configuration:
 ​
 • Whyte 2-4-0, rebuilt to 4-4-0
 • UIC 1B, rebuilt 2′B
Gauge 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)
Career
Operators MGWR → GSR → CIÉ
Class MGWR: D
GSR/CIÉ: 530 or D16
Numbers MGWR: 2–3, 25–26, 36–37;
GSR: 530–535
Nicknames Achill Bogies
Withdrawn 1945–1953

The MGWR Class D were a failed experiment in rebuilding tried and tested 2-4-0 steam locomotives as a 4-4-0 class for main line duties on the Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland. Poor steaming and lack of power condemned the locomotives to branch line work where they were able to make their mark

History

The D class were originally built as 2-4-0s between 1880 and 1887. Four were built by Kitson & Co. of Leeds, six by Beyer, Peacock and Company, Manchester, and the other at the MGWR's Broadstone Works in Dublin. The reason that ten were subcontracted to English firms was due to Broadstone working to capacity at the time.

In 1900/01, and being impressed with the bogie engines introduced by the Great Southern and Western Railway, the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the MGWR, Martin Atcock, decided on a similar experiment. Six of the 2-4-0s were converted to 4-4-0s, and redesignated D-bogie class. They were originally planned for use on the Mullingar to Sligo mail trains, however they were poor steamers and proved to be underpowered for this work being transferred soon afterwards to the Westport – Achill branch line in western County Mayo — a highly scenic line which passed through the small town of Newport and the village of Mallaranny before reaching the western seaboard at Achill Sound.

The six locomotives converted were the Beyer, Peacock models, Nos. 2, 3, 25, 26, 36 and 37. These locomotives became such regular performers on this line that they were nicknamed the "Achill Bogies". Following the absorption of the MGWR into the Great Southern Railways in 1925, they were renumbered 534, 535, 531, 532, 530 and 533, in the same order as the original numbers shown above. The first four dated from 1880, in their original form, and the last two 1881. It was the intention that these conversions would replace the Class K, 2-4-0 locomotives but with their steaming problems the Ks were still in service long after the last D had been relegated to minor duties or even the scrapheap. Following the closure of the Achill line in 1937, there was little work for them to do, but one served on the Claremorris to Ballina branch for a time, another was occasionally used between Portarlington and Athlone and a third member of the class ended its days as a stationary boiler at Broadstone depot.The others seem to have found their way by degrees to Athlone and Broadstone. The 531 was withdrawn in 1945, all the rest apart from 533 in 1949, and 533 itself managed to survive until 1953, though it lay out of use for much of this time.

Livery

Redesignated as the Class 530 or Class D16 by the Great Southern Railways, and repainted overall dull battleship grey instead of the lined green livery they carried in MGWR days, they served the Achill line reliably to the last. A full description of the locomotives, a line drawing and many illustrations may be seen in the book Rails to Achill (a history of the Achill line) by Jonathan Beaumont, published in 2002 by the Oakwood Press, Usk, Monmouthshire.

References

See also

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