The Rhymney Railway A class were

0-6-2T T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...

tank locomotive A tank locomotive is a steam locomotive which carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender (rail), tender. Most tank engines also have Fuel bunker, bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a #Tender ...

s introduced into traffic in 1910 and designed by the railway's engineer Hurry Riches. These were substantial sized tank engines, and weighed ( after rebuilding) and were in length.

Construction

There were initially five locos in the class augmented by another five in 1911, then three in 1914, two in 1916 and three in 1918. They were built by

Robert Stephenson and Company Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in England. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build Steam locomotive, railway engines. Famou ...

and

Hudswell Clarke Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. History The company was founded as Hudswell and Clarke in 1860. In 1870 the name was changed to Hu ...

. The last eight differed in having

Belpaire firebox The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and s ...

es and were classed as A1.

Overview of RR classes

The A class, and the preceding M class of 1904 and R class of 1910, were closely related designs ideally suited to hauling heavy coal trains a relatively short distance. These three classes (and the larger wheeled P class) were designed for work on the Rhymney Railway, replacing smaller locomotives. When the smaller railway companies were forcibly merged into 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) in 1923, these modern 0-6-2's were in generally good order (some were a few months old) and had proved successful. Collectively they became the blueprint for the 200 strong

GWR 5600 Class The Great Western Railway, GWR 5600 Class is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive built between 1924 and 1928. They were designed by Charles Collett for the Great Western Railway (GWR), and were introduced into traffic in 1924. After the 1923 grou ...

Rebuilds of RR classes

Fifteen A class locos were upgraded from 1926 onwards. All told twenty nine "Stephenson" locos were similarly dealt with up to as late as 1949. In 1929 No 55 was reboilered by the GWR and in this form was visually almost indistinguishable from the

. The GWR number 2 boiler (used on the 5600 class) was also suitable for the M and R class Rhymney locomotives. The A and P classes were also rebuilt but used the slightly shorter standard number 10 boiler, also to good effect.

GWR 5600 Class

The design of the 5600 class followed the Rhymney designs quite closely but adopted GWR practice as far as possible, by utilising many

standardized Standardization (American English) or standardisation (British English) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organiza ...

parts. Included in Collett's innovations was a standard number 2

boiler 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, centra ...

which was suitable for the 5600 (and the M and R class Rhymney locomotives), complete with the traditional copper GWR safety valve casing and copper-capped chimney.

Welsh 0-6-2T types

The railways of

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

seem to have had a particular liking for the 0-6-2T type. This was because the nature of the work they undertook demanded high adhesive weight, plenty of power with good braking ability, but no need for outright speed, nor large tanks or bunker as the distances from pit to port were short. These Welsh locomotives were taken over by the GWR at the

grouping Grouping generally refers to the creation of one or more groups, or to the groups themselves. More specifically, grouping may refer to: * Shot grouping in shooting sports and other uses of firearms * the use of symbols of grouping in mathemati ...

in 1923 and many including seventeen of the Rhymney A, M, P and R's were rebuilt with GWR taper boilers. All the Rhymney Stephenson derived locos passed into

British Railways 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 Commis ...

(BR) ownership in 1948. Others included (with some gaps in numbering): *

Brecon and Merthyr Railway The Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway (B&MR) was a railway company in Wales. It was originally intended to link the towns in its name. Finding its access to Merthyr difficult at first, it acquired the Rumney Railway, an old plateway, an ...

, BR numbers 431-436 *

Cardiff Railway From 1839, the trustees of the John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, Marquis of Bute, operated a large dock operation in Cardiff, the "Bute Docks". This was very successful, but was overwhelmed by the huge volume of coal exported through ...

, BR number 155 *

Rhymney Railway The Rhymney Railway (RR) was a railway company in South Wales, founded to transport minerals and materials to and from Colliery, collieries and ironworks in the Rhymney Valley of South Wales, and to docks in Cardiff. It opened a main line in 18 ...

, BR numbers 35-83 *

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stage ...

, BR numbers 204-399 For further information on these pre-grouping locomotives see

Locomotives of the Great Western Railway The first Locomotives of the Great Western Railway (GWR) were specified by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but Daniel Gooch was soon appointed as the railway's Locomotive Superintendent. He designed several different broad gauge types for the growing ...

References

External links

Rail UK database entry for Rhymney Railway A class

Rail UK database entry for Rhymney Railway A1 class
* http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_062.htm
Telford Steam Railway 5619 project

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{{GWR absorbed locos 1922 on A Class 0-6-2T locomotives C1′ n2t locomotives Hudswell Clarke locomotives Robert Stephenson and Company locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1910 Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Freight locomotives