The Taff Vale Railway A class was a class of

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 ...

steam

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 designed by J. Cameron for mixed traffic work and introduced to the

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 ...

(TVR) in 1914. The A class was an enlarged version of the TVR O4 class designed by

Tom Hurry Riches Tom Hurry Riches (1846–1911) was a British engineer who became the Locomotive Superintendent of the Taff Vale Railway in October 1873, and held the post until his death on 4 September 1911. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest ...

in 1907. The A class was the last new class of locomotive to be introduced on the TVR, which had introduced its first 0-6-2Ts in 1885 (the M class); and, with a total of 58 built, was numerically the largest class of tank locomotive on the TVR. Previous classes of mixed-traffic 0-6-2T on the TVR (the M, M1, N, O, O1, O2, O3 and O4 classes) had used driving wheels of or diameter; but the A class used the same diameter as the TVR's passenger 0-6-2T ( U and U1 classes), i.e. , and they were used mainly on passenger trains. The first 51 locomotives initially had boilers working at a pressure of , which (except for no. 120) was later altered to ; the last seven worked at the higher pressure from new. By the time that the TVR amalgamated with 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) at the start of 1922, only four (TVR nos. 3, 42, 52 and 120) still worked at the original pressure. All of the A class locomotives were rebuilt with

taper boiler A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler invented in 1828 by Marc Seguin, in which hot gases pass from a fire through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat of the gases is transferred through the walls of the tubes ...

s and

superheater A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. ...

s by the GWR between 1924 and 1932; these also worked at at first. The pressure was raised to between 1930 and 1939; at the same time, the cylinder bore was reduced from to . All 58 passed to

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) in 1948, until the introduction of the BR 82xxx 2-6-2Ts in the mid-1950s, these engines were widely used on passenger workings in the South Wales Valleys. After withdrawal, several were employed as Works Pilots in Swindon before being broken up. The first loco withdrawn was 344 in November 1952 from

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Cathays shed. The last seven locos 370, 373, 381, 383, 390, 398 and 402 were withdrawn together in August 1957 from

Abercynon Abercynon () is a village and community (Wales), community (and electoral ward) in the Cynon Valley within the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community comprises the village and the districts of Carnetown and Grovers Field to ...

shed. None are preserved.

Builders and numbering

The locomotives were built in several batches by

Hawthorn Leslie R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, usually referred to as Hawthorn Leslie, was a shipbuilding, shipbuilder and locomotive manufacturer. The company was founded on Tyneside in 1886 and ceased building ships in 1982. History The comp ...

, Nasmyth, Wilson and Company,

Vulcan Foundry The Vulcan Foundry Limited was an English locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire (now Merseyside). History The Vulcan Foundry opened in 1832, as Charles Tayleur and Company to produce girders for bridges, switches, crossi ...

and

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park W ...

. Their initial GWR numbers were in the ranges 335–408 (for locos working at a boiler pressure of ) and 438–441 (pressure ), but they were not consecutive and were intermingled with other classes. Those with numbers above 399 were renumbered between 303 and 322 during 1947–50. Originally, the Taff Vale Railway commissioned the German locomotive factory Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG to build six locomotives in 1914. However, due to the outbreak of 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 ...

, the deal did not come into being.Tradition, Zeitschrift für Firmengeschichte und Unternehmerbiographie, 2. Jahrg., ''Erinnerungen aus der Geschichte der Hanomag'' von Erich Metzeltin, Verlag C.H.Beck, August 1957, p. 280. The order for these six locomotives was transferred to North British and they were delivered as nos. 42 etc. during 1915.

References

Sources

External links

Rail UK database entry for Taff Vale Railway A class

{{GWR absorbed locos 1922 on A 0-6-2T locomotives C1′ n2t locomotives Hawthorn Leslie and Company locomotives Nasmyth, Wilson and Company locomotives NBL locomotives Vulcan Foundry locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1914 Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Scrapped locomotives Passenger locomotives in the United Kingdom

Builders and numbering

See also

References

Sources

External links