History of the Wye Valley Railway

Steam locomotives, autocoaches and diesels

This part describes locomotives classes that are understood to have worked on the Wye Valley Railway line.

Steam Locomotives

Introduction

Prior to nationalisation in 1948 the railway companies designed and built their own steam locomotives. The Great Western Railway locomotives were built at their Swindon works which, at its height, employed around 14,000 people.

Locomotive descriptions include a series of numbers that define the wheel arrangement from front to back, for example, 0-6-2 means that there are no non-driven leading wheels at the front of the locomotive, followed by 6 driven wheels and finally 2 non-driven trailing wheels.

On the Great Western Region pannier tank engines were deployed in large numbers. In these locomotives the water tanks for supplying the boiler are arranged on the side of the locomotive in a similar way to panniers on a mule. The abbreviation PT was applied in these cases, so a 0-6-0 PT is a locomotive with 6 driving wheels and no other wheels which is equipped with pannier tanks.

Tank engines can run equally fast in both directions. However, the engine still needs to be at the front of the train to avoid the view forward being impeded by the coaches or wagons. To achieve this the locomotive has to ‘run-round’ via a passing loop then recoupling for a return journey.

The abbreviation ST denoted ‘saddle tank’ where the tank straddles the locomotive. ‘T’ denotes a side tank locomotive that is shorter than a pannier tank which extends the full length of the locomotive.

The tank engines carried coal in a bunker behind the cab whereas in locomotives that ran for longer distances a separate tender would carry the fuel.

For more information on tank engines click here.

The Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway provides a simplified description of steam locomotive operation, click here for more information.

GWR saddle tank locomotives

Saddle tank locomotives preceded other tank locomotives. When more efficient boilers, which were not cylindrical, were introduced an alternative design of tank was required. The 0-6-0 ST class ran on the Wye Valley Railway. 266 were built between 1870 and 1871.

The overturned locomotive No 1048, in the photograph under the Introduction at the start of this section on steam locomotives, is a saddle tank locomotive designed by Joseph Armstrong and built in 1870 at the Great Western Stafford Road Works in Wolverhampton. It survived the incident and, once repaired, continued in service until 1930 when it was scrapped.

Class 455 also called 'Metro' tanks.

140 of these 2-4-0 T were bult for the GWR, originally for their London surburban services, including running on the underground section of the Metropolitan Railway, the source of their nickname. Later on the class was seen in many parts of the GWR system. 80 were bult at the Swindon Railway Works between 1869 and 1899. They were withdrawn between 1900 and 1949. The designer was Joseph Armstrong, the GWR Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent.

Class 5700 0-6-0 PT

This class was built between 1929 and 1950 mostly at the Swindon Works. It was designed by Charles B Collett the Chief Engineer at Swindon. 863 were built making it the most prolific of the GWR locomotives. It weighed 47 1⁄2 tonnes. It was the most powerful of the steam engines in regular use on the line. 16 are preserved.

No 5775 starred in The Railway Children.

Class 6400 0-6-0 PT.

This class 6400 was designed by Charles B Collett and built by the GWR between 1932 and 1937.

Numbers 6400, 6412, 6430 and 6439 ran on the Wye Valley Railway of which 6412 and 6430 are preserved. The locomotive weighed 45 tonnes. 40 were built. It was more powerful than Class 1400 that also ran on the line.

6400

6412

This locomotive was the star of the 1977/78 children’s TV series, The Flockton Flyer. It has been preserved.

6430

Evidence that 6340 ran on the WVR comes from a photograph at Tintern that was included in the Railway Magazine of February 1959. It was built March 1937 at Swindon Works and withdrawn from British Railways service in 1964.

The photos below show 6430 in service after the WVR line had closed to passenger traffic as well as in preservation at Llangollen.

6439

Class 1400 0-4-2 T

This class was designed by Charles Collett and built by the Great Western Railway at Swindon for branch line passenger work. 75 were produced between 1932 and 1936. They were popular for light branch line work. The weight of the locomotive was 41.3 tonnes. They were all withdrawn from service by 1964. Four are preserved.

1466 is a class 1400 locomotive preserved at Didcot Railway Centre.

Class 2301 and also known as Dean Goods Class. 0-6-0 tender locomotive.

Designed by William Dean. 54 were built. No 2538 was the last to be withdrawn from service in May 1957. One locomotive, 2516 survives and is preserved at the GWR STEAM museum at Swindon.

There is no certainty that the Dean Goods ran on the Wye Valley Railway but exchanges on Facebook have indicated that it could have worked the quarry traffic so it has been included.

GWR Autocoach (or auto-trailer)

The GWR Autocoach (or auto-trailer) is a type of coach that was used by the Great Western Railway for push-pull trains powered by a steam locomotive. The autocoach is equipped with a driving cab at one end. This allows the driver to control the train without being in the cab of the locomotive. This eliminates the need to run the engine round to the other end of the coach at the end of each journey as well as the need for a passing loop. W153W, W174W and W237W were regularly scheduled turns of duty along the Wye Valley Line towards the end of the 1950’s.

The driver can also warn of the train's approach using a large mechanical gong, prominently mounted high on the cab end of the autocoach, which is operated by stamping on a pedal on the floor of the cab. The driver, guard and fireman communicate with each other by an electric bell system.

The design proved long-lived with 163 examples being built to a similar design. The last coaches were built in 1954. (Wikipedia and B M Handley)

Diesel Engines

Hymek – Class 35

After passenger, parcels and goods traffic ceased on the line in 1964 the remaining rail activity served the two quarries at Tintern and Tidenham. This quarry traffic lasted for nearly 30 years.

British Railways stopped using steam-hauled trains in 1968 and diesel engines took over. Diesel-hydraulic (Hymek) locomotives were developed for the Great Western Railways and regularly hauled loaded ballast wagons from the quarries. A late change to the livery was the introduction of full yellow warning panels at each end.

Class 37

Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. 309 were produced as part of the British Railways modernisation plan between 1960 and 1965. They weighed 100 tonnes. One of their nicknames was Growler. They operated passenger and freight trains.

Class 14

Class 14 locomotives served Tidenham Quarry up to the Summer of 1967 as shown in this operating diagram posted on the railway modellers website.
They were also seen working on the line by Martin Scott, one of the Greenways and cycleways volunteers.

They were a type of small diesel- hydraulic locomotive built in the mid- 1960s mostly at the Swindon works. Originally all of them were allocated to the Western Region of British Railways. The anticipated work for this class included short-distance freight trains such as the Tintern quarry traffic.

They were known as ‘Teddy Bears’ by enthusiasts, following a comment by Swindon Works’ erecting shop foreman George Coles who quipped ‘’We’ve built The Great Bear (a GWR iconic 4-6-2 steam engine built in 1908 weighing 142 tons) now we are going to build a ‘Teddy Bear’!’’ (Wikipedia)