The 3206 or Barnum Class consisted of 20 locomotives built at Swindon Works for 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, ...
in 1889, and was
William Dean
William, Will, Bill or Billy Dean is the name of the following people:
Arts and entertainment
* Bill Dean (1921–2000), British actor
* Billy Dean (born 1962), American country music singer
Sports
* William Dean (Hampshire cricketer) (c. 1882� ...
's most successful design. Numbered 3206–3225, they were the last GWR locos built at Swindon with "sandwich" frames (outside frames consisting of timber between two sheets of steel).
Alterations
They underwent various alterations during their working lives, such as thicker tyres giving slightly larger wheels, the gradual adoption of cylinders with a
stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
, and larger diameter boilers of various sorts, as was usual at this period. Between 1910 and 1915, some of the class received taller chimneys resembling those of the
Dean Singles.
Use
The Barnums were "express mixed traffic engines" and to start with worked from Swindon to Gloucester and South Wales, and to Weymouth. A few subsequently went to the Northern Division, but in the early 20th century most were at Bristol, Oxford, Swindon and Westbury. By the 1920s they were reduced to branch-line work, apart from a brief spell on the Cambrian main line, and all were withdrawn by early 1937.
References
*
*
{{GWR Locomotives
3206
2-4-0 locomotives
1B n2 locomotives
Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Railway locomotives introduced in 1889
Scrapped locomotives