GWR 9400 Class

Great Western Railway 9400 class

9466 is one of two preserved members of the 210-strong class. Its Great Western Railway livery is inauthentic as it was one of those built for British Railways after nationalisation.
Type and origin
Power type Steam
Builder
Order number GWR Lot Nos. 365, 382–387
Serial number
  • RSH: 7450–69, 7547–96, 7611–40
  • WGB: 2910–2959
  • YEC: 2443–72, 2544–53, 2575–84
Build date 1947–1956
Total produced 210
Specifications
Configuration 0-6-0PT
UIC class
  • C h2t (10)
  • C n2t (200)
Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Driver dia. 4 ft 7 1⁄2 in (1.410 m)
Minimum curve
  • 5 chains (330 ft; 100 m) normal,
  • 4.5 chains (300 ft; 91 m) slow
Wheelbase 15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Length 33 ft 2 in (10.11 m) over buffers
Width 8 ft 7 in (2.616 m)
Height 12 ft 5 1⁄2 in (3.797 m)
Axle load 19 long tons 5 cwt (43,100 lb or 19.6 t) (21.6 short tons) full
Loco weight 55 long tons 7 cwt (124,000 lb or 56.2 t) (62.0 short tons) full
Fuel type Coal
Water cap 1,300 imp gal (5,900 l; 1,600 US gal)
Firebox:
 • Firegrate area		 17.40 sq ft (1.617 m2)
Boiler pressure 200 lbf/in2 (1.38 MPa)
Heating surface 1,347 sq ft (125.1 m2)
 • Tubes 1,245.7 sq ft (115.73 m2)
 • Firebox 101.7 sq ft (9.45 m2)
Cylinders Two, inside
Cylinder size 17 1⁄2 in × 24 in (444 mm × 610 mm)
Performance figures
Tractive effort 22,515 lbf (100.15 kN)
Career
Operators
Class 9400 or 94XX
Power class
  • GWR: C
  • BR: 4F
Numbers 9400–9499, 8400–8499, 3400–3409
Axle load class GWR: Red
Withdrawn 1959–1965
Preserved 9400, 9466
Disposition Two preserved, remainder scrapped

The Great Western Railway (GWR) 9400 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, used for shunting and banking duties.

The first ten 9400s were the last steam engines built by the GWR. After nationalisation in 1948, another 200 were built by private contractors for British Railways (BR). Most had very short working lives as the duties for which they were designed disappeared through changes in working practices or were taken over by diesel locomotives. Two locomotives survived into preservation, one as part of the National Collection.

Design

The first of the class 9400 is preserved as a static exhibit at STEAM, Swindon and is part of the National Collection

The 9400 class was the final development in a long lineage of tank locomotives that can be directly traced to the 645 Class of 1872. Over the decades details altered, the most significant being the adoption of Belpaire fireboxes necessitating pannier tanks.

The 9400 resembled a pannier tank version of the 2251 class, and indeed shared the same boiler and cylinders as the 2251, but was in fact a taper-boilered development of the 8750 subgroup of the 5700 class. The advantage was a useful increase in boiler power, but there was a significant weight penalty that restricted route availability. The 10 GWR-built locomotives had superheaters but the remainder did not.

The first ten 9400s were built by the Great Western and were the last steam engines built by the company. After the nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948, private contractors built another 200 for British Railways.

The 9400s were numbered 9400–9499, 8400–8499 and 3400–3409. BR gave them the power classification 4F.

Duties

9466 leaving Kimberley Park railway station on the Mid-Norfolk Railway

The 9400 class were used on Paddington empty stock work right up to the end of steam on the Western Region of British Railways. A familiar sight at the buffer stops at departure side in 1964–1965 was a filthy 9400 class locomotive devoid of number plates simmering at the head of a rake of British Railways Mark 1 coaches.

Numbers 8400 to 8406 served as bank engines on the Lickey Incline after its transferral to the Western Region.

In retrospect they were a wasteful investment, many having very short lives of less than 10 years as their intended work dried up and diesels took over their remaining duties. 8447 holds the unenviable record of the shortest life of any GWR loco in BR times, beginning in August 1954 and ending four years and nine months later in May 1959.

Build details

Table of orders and numbers[1]
Lot No. Fleet Nos. Manufacturer Serial Nos. Date Notes
365 9400–9409 Swindon Works — 1947
382 9410–9459 Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns 7547–7596 1950–1951
383 9460–9489 Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns 7611–7640 1950–1953
384 8400–8449 W. G. Bagnall 2910–2959 1949–1954
385 8450–8479 Yorkshire Engine Company 2443–65/67–71/66/72 1949–1952
386 8480–8499 Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns 7450–7469 1952 under subcontract from Hudswell Clarke
387 9490–9499 Yorkshire Engine Company 2544–2553 1954–1955 under subcontract from Hunslet Engine Company
387 3400–3409 Yorkshire Engine Company 2575–2584 1955–1956 under subcontract from Hunslet Engine Company

No. 3409 was the last locomotive built for British mainline use by private contractors. It was ordered by GWR in December 1947 and delivered by Yorkshire Engine Company in October 1956.[2]

Preservation

Two have been preserved:

Models

Lima produced a model of the class in 00 gauge between 1978 and 1985 Graham Farish manufacture a model of the 94xx in N scale. Bachmann are producing a model of the 94xx in 00 scale, as of November 2015.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Whitehurst 1973, pp. 32, 70, 73–74.
  2. ↑ Atkins 1999, p. 51.

Sources

Further reading

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