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LSWR Adams G6 class 0-6-0T

photograph: Mike Morant collection

G6 Class N°261, depicted here in SR livery, was one of the first batch of 10 locomotives and entered service in September 1894. In November 1948 she was one of the first to be withdrawn but still with a respectable 54 years of service under her belt.

In 1893 William Adams had a requirement for additional motive power in the form of yard shunters to supplement the railway's stock of 0-6-0Ts dating from 1881 and built by Beyer Peacock.

With works capacity available he was able to facilitate their construction within his own jurisdiction and so was born the largely unheralded but very successful G6 class in the form of just ten examples all of which were of entirely new construction. All 34 locos lasted into BR ownership and it says much for the solid design principles that three of the original batch survived to be amongst only eleven that eventually carried BR running numbers.

Adams authorised the construction of four further examples which entered service in October and November 1896. These were direct replacements for B4 0-4-0Ts at Southampton Docks and provided greater coal and water capacity as well as enhanced power.

Adams' successor, Drummond, was sufficiently impressed with the design to supplement the numbers with ten additions in 1897/8 followed by a further batch of ten examples in 1900. It was stated above that the first ten examples from Adams' time were all of completely original construction but that was not true of the remainder as all of them were built with boilers either intended for Beattie's well tanks or cascaded from withdrawn examples.

The class was afflicted by very little in the way of rebuilding during its life-span. All were subsequently fitted with lipped chimneys to replace the Adams stovepipes on the earlier examples and all were gradually fitted with the vacuum brake over a lengthy period. There were many boiler changes involving the original, Beattie well tank types and also a Drummond version of the O2 type which had proved to be unpopular with the Isle of Wight loco crews.

Two of the class found their way into departmental service and both were allocated to Meldon Quarry. 30272 was so treated in June 1950 and became DS3152 whilst 30238 replaced her in the guise of DS682 in November 1960 some three months after the withdrawal of her sister engine.

This was a class of 34 very successful locomotives which led unremarkable lives tucked away in goods yards on the former LSWR. Their forays into passenger work were restricted to banking duties between the two main stations at Exeter and even that privilege was withdrawn when they were superseded by the Stroudley E1/R 0-6-2Ts in 1933.

It would seem that there were two styles of coupling rod fitted to this class. Photographic evidence would suggest the last nine engines had plain rods as opposed to the fluted rods fitted to the pr-1900 build engines.

The first withdrawal was N°348 in August 1948, which was the precursor of the mass withdrawal of a further 22 more by the end of 1951. The final survivor was the 64 years old N°30238 which, remarkably, hung around until the very end of the 1962 cull of pre-grouping locos and met her demise in December of that year.

For one of the early withdrawals it was not the end of a railway career. N°30237, which was withdrawn in February 1949, had a further life in industrial use as N°39 at the Redbourn Ironworks, Scunthorpe. Apparently when the locomotive was purchased by the ironworks the vacuum brake was removed and a Wakefield mechanical lubricator fitted, in which condition the locomotive gave another eleven year's service until 1960.

Additional text from Colin Hume, Mike Morant and Roger Norman.

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  • 30283
    Guildford
    >With the sole exception of Reading where, due to a shortage of suitable motive power, one G6 was allocated and was subsequently ably assisted by a second example. the G6 Class members spent their entire lives on the former LSWR. Here N°30238 was photographed at Guildford on 16th April 1952.
    Photograph by Les Darbyshire.
  • 30277
    Reading
    N°30277 is depicted here at Reading South shed in 1958 and was one of ten survivors at that time.
    Photograph: Mike Morant collection.
  • -
     
    Meldon shunter N°DS682 (ex-N°30238) photographed whilst at Eastleigh in 1963.
    Photograph: Mike Morant collection.

Technical Details

Introduced:
Driving Wheel:
Length:
Weight:
Water Capacity:
Cylinders (2):
Boiler Pressure:
Tractive Effort:
BR Power Classification:
1894
4 ft 10 ins
30 ft 8 ½ ins
47 tons 13 cwt
1,000 gals
17½ in x 24 in
160 lb sq in
17,235 lb
2-F

Data

Locomotives listed in order of build
 
LSWR & SR N°
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
237
238
239
240
279
160
162
277
278
348
349
351
353
354
BR N°
30257 #
30258
30259 #
30260
30261 #
30262 #
30263 #
30264 #
30265 #
30266
30267 #
30268 #
30269 #
30270 #
30271 #
30272 # #
30273 #
30274
30275 #
30276
30237 #
30238 #
30239
30240 #
30279 #
30160
30162
30277
30278 #
30348 #
30349
30351 #
30353 #
30354 #
Built
Jun 1894
Aug 1894
Sep 1894
Sep 1894
Sep 1894
Sep 1894
Oct 1894
Oct 1894
Oct 1894
Oct 1894
Oct 1896
Oct 1896
Oct 1896
Nov 1886
Dec 1897
Feb 1898
Feb 1898
Feb 1898
Feb 1898
Mar 1898
Sep 1898
Sep 1898
Sep 1898
Oct 1898
Nov 1898
Mar 1900
Apr 1900
Apr 1900
May 1900
Jun 1900
Jun 1900
Jun 1900
Jun 1900
Jun 1900
Withdrawn
Feb 1949
Jul 1961
Feb 1951
Nov 1958
Nov 1948
Nov 1949
Sep 1949
Jan 1949
Aug 1949
Jun 1960
Jan 1949
Feb 1951
Oct 1949
Jan 1959
Sep 1948
Aug 1960
Mar 1949
Oct 1960
Oct 1960
Dec 1949
Feb 1949 #
Nov 1960
Oct 1948
Jun 1950
Dec 1948
Apr 1959
May 1958
Nov 1961
Dec 1948
Aug 1948
Jul 1961
Feb 1949
Feb 1951
Nov 1949
# Did not carry the BR number
# 30272 taken into Service Stock as DS 3152 - shunted Meldon Quarry from 1949
# 30238 taken into Service Stock as DS 682 - shunted Meldon Quarry from 1960
# 30237 sold to Redbourn Ironworks, Scunthorpe and was in use there until 1960.

This page was last updated 8 February 2012

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