The

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

(GWR) 3000 Class was a class of

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

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 ...

consisting of the ex-

Railway Operating Division The Railway Operating Division (ROD) was a division of the Royal Engineers formed in 1915 to operate railways in the many theatres of the First World War. It was largely composed of railway employees and operated both standard gauge and narrow ...

ROD 2-8-0. These were built by North British Locomotive Co. between 1917 and 1918. No examples have been preserved.

Initial loans and purchase

The GWR borrowed several ROD 2-8-0s during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

but these were returned to the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

after the end of the war. In 1919, GWR bought 20 virtually new RODs, and numbered them 3000–19. A further 84 were hired in July 1919, and were numbered 3020-99 and 6000–3, but these were returned in October 1922. In 1925, the GWR bought 80 engines (including some previously hired) and numbered them 3020–99.

Overhaul and sorting

In 1926/7 the GWR sorted the eighty RODs bought in 1925 which had been given nos. 3020–99 into two batches, which involved considerable renumbering. The worst fifty were touched up and returned to traffic with steel fireboxes and painted the original R.O.D. black and renumbered 3050–99; they were run until they failed, when they were withdrawn – after July 1930, only one remained, being withdrawn the following year. The best thirty were thoroughly overhauled, fitted with copper fireboxes and painted G.W. standard green, they also acquired

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

fittings, including

top feed 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 ...

and brass

safety valve A safety valve is a valve that acts as a fail-safe. An example of safety valve is a pressure relief valve (PRV), which automatically releases a substance from a boiler, pressure vessel, or other system, when the pressure or temperature exceeds ...

casing, and were renumbered 3020–49. Nos. 3000–19 (bought 1919) were also overhauled similarly to the new nos. 3020–49 between 1927 and 1929, but were not further renumbered. The leading dimensions of the GWR 3000 Class were the same as the GCR Class 8K except that the GWR increased the boiler pressure to which increased the tractive effort from to .

World War II

The GWR borrowed 30 Class O4 from the LNER in November 1940, of which two were returned the following April; ten were returned in July–August 1942 and the rest in January–February 1943. On the GWR, they retained their LNER numbers, which were scattered between 5391 and 6639. Three of these had been hired by the GWR between 1919 and 1922:

British Railways

Forty-six of the RODs entered

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways service in 1948. Five locomotives (numbers 3011, 3015, 3024, 3036 and 3041) were still in service in 1957 and of these, nos. 3036/41 were withdrawn in March 1958, the others in October the same year. None of the GWR RODs has survived to preservation.

Modelling

In November 2011, Bachmann released a

OO gauge OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to , or 1: ...

ready to run model of the 3000 class. This complements kits in various gauges.

References

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External links

Class ROD Details
at ''Rail UK'' {{GWR Locomotives 2-8-0 locomotives 1′D h2 locomotives

3000 3000 or 3000s usually refers to: * 3000 (number), the decimal number * 3000 AD/CE, the first year of the 31st century * 3000 BC(E), a year in the 3rd millennium BC * 3000s AD/CE, a decade, century, millennium in the 4th millennium * 3000s BC(E), ...

Scrapped locomotives Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Railway locomotives introduced in 1919 Freight locomotives NBL locomotives