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Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 mill ...
(GWR) 4400 Class was a class of
2-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, six coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Prairie. Overview The major ...
T
side tank A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locomoti ...
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, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...
.


History

They were introduced in 1904 for work on small
branch lines A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...
. The 4500 class was a later development with larger driving wheels. The 4400s were particularly used in hilly districts, notably the
Princetown Princetown is a villageDespite its name, Princetown is not classed as a town today – it is not included in the County Council's list of the 29 towns in Devon: located within Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the p ...
and
Much Wenlock Much Wenlock is a market town and parish in Shropshire, England, situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford. The civil parish includes the villa ...
Branches. All were withdrawn and scrapped between 1949 and 1955. The 4400, 4500 and 4575 classes, which all had stroke cylinders, the Standard 5 boiler and driving wheels under , were collectively known as "Small Prairies", as opposed to the 5100, 3150, 5101, 6100, 3100 and 8100 classes, with stroke cylinders, Standard 2 or 4 boilers and driving wheels over , known as "Large Prairies".


See also

*
GWR 4500 Class The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4500 Class or Small Prairie is a class of 2-6-2T steam locomotives. History They were designed as small mixed traffic locomotives, mainly used on branch lines. The design was based on the earlier 4400 Class, bu ...
*
GWR 4575 Class The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4575 Class is a class of 2-6-2T British steam locomotives. History They were designed as small mixed traffic branch locomotives, mainly used on branch lines. They were a development of Churchward's 4500 Class w ...
* List of GWR standard classes with two outside cylinders


References

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External links


Class 4400 Details
at ''Rail UK'' 2-6-2T locomotives 4400 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Railway locomotives introduced in 1904 Scrapped locomotives Mixed traffic locomotives {{UK-steam-loco-stub