The

Great Southern and Western Railway The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the larges ...

Class 90 is a class of

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

. They were one of the smallest steam locomotives to be inherited by the

CIÉ , or CIÉ, is a statutory corporation of Ireland, answerable to the Irish Government and responsible for most public transport within the Republic of Ireland and jointly with its Northern Ireland counterpart, the Northern Ireland Transport Hold ...

on its formation.

History

In 1875 Inchicore Works outshopped two

railmotor Railmotor is a term used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Commonwealth for a railway lightweight railcar, usually consisting of a railway carriage with a steam traction unit, or a diesel or petrol engine, integrated into it. Steam railcars ...

s, steam locomotives with a carriage on the same chassis to work the Castleisland and Gortatlea Light Railway. Both railmotors were rebuilt (the first in 1890) removing the carriage portion and leaving the locomotive as a small and light . The two examples were numbered 90 and 100 and were put to work in the

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

area. Unusually, the centre driving wheels were flangeless giving very good working over tight radius tracks. They regularly shunted along the quayside at Cork and worked the car trains from the Ford works to Rocksavage yard. In the summer months both locomotives were coupled together to work the excursion trains on the lightly laid

Timoleague and Courtmacsherry Light Railway Timoleague () is a village in the eastern division of Carbery East in County Cork, Ireland. It is located along Ireland's southern coast between Kinsale and Clonakilty, on the estuary of the Argideen River. Nearby is the village of Courtmacs ...

. In 1890 the class was enlarged with Inchicore building two further examples for use on the Fermoy to Mitchelstown branch and two for the Kingsbridge to

Inchicore Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchi ...

branch, which they worked until 1945. Several detail changes were made over the years. One of the most noticeable was the replacement of the original chimney (which had a pronounced taper from base to apex), being replaced with a parallel version with a distinct lip.

Dimensions

* Driving Wheels: (10 spokes), centre wheels flangeless. * Cylinders: (2) * Boiler Pressure: * Weight:

Livery

As locomotives they were painted in dark green with red, black and light green (later black and white) lining, with numbers on buffer beams in yellow, shaded white and blue. The tank sides carried number plates with polished numbers against a paint black background on the plate. After about 1915 they became all-over plain grey, initially with numberplates painted on in grey, but latterly under CIÉ these were removed and large pale yellow painted numerals applied instead. No. 90, the last survivor, appears to have been repainted black in its last few years in use, approximately 1957–60.

Preservation

One example, No. 90, was preserved for many years as a static exhibit at

Mallow railway station Mallow railway station is an Ireland, Irish station on the Dublin-Cork railway line, Mallow–Tralee line, Mallow-Tralee railway line and Cork Suburban Rail (Cork Kent railway station, Cork Kent, Cobh railway station, Cobh and Midleton railway ...

. This was painted in the green livery, as detailed above, but a cast number plate with black numerals on a silver background (not original) has replaced the painted numbers. After a brief spell in the CIÉ workshops at Inchicore No. 90 was removed to the workshops of the

Railway Preservation Society of Ireland The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) is a railway preservation group founded in 1964 and operating throughout Ireland. Mainline steam train railtours are operated from Dublin, while short train rides are operated up and down th ...

at Whitehead in 2005, to undergo restoration. The locomotive was back in steam by Sunday 30 September 2007 and is owned by the Downpatrick Railway Museum, where it is currently under restoration.

References

External links