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![]() photograph: Mike Morant collection
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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true of the remainder as all of them were built with boilers either intended for Beattie's well tanks or cascaded from withdrawn examples.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passenger work were restricted to banking duties between the two main stations at Exeter and even that privilege was withdrawn when they were superseded by the Stroudley E1/R 0-6-2Ts in 1933.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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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 |
Locomotives listed in order of build |
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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