GWR 1361 Class

1361 Class
1363 preserved at Didcot
Power type	Steam
Designer	Harold Holcroft
Builder	GWR Swindon Works
Order number	Lot 179
Serial number	2375–2379
Build date	1910
Total produced	5
Configuration	0-6-0ST
UIC classification	C nt
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Driver diameter	3 ft 8 in (1.118 m)
Minimum curve	2 chains (132 ft; 40 m)
Wheelbase	11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Length	25 ft 7 1⁄2 in (7.81 m) over buffers
Width	8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
Height	11 ft 7 in (3.53 m)
Axle load	12 tons 0 cwt (26,900 lb or 12.2 t)
Locomotive weight	35 tons 4 cwt (78,800 lb or 35.7 t) full
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	2 tons 0 cwt (4,500 lb or 2.0 t)
Water capacity	800 imp gal (3,600 l; 960 US gal)
Boiler pressure	150 lbf/in² (1,030 kPa)
Firegrate area	10.71 sq ft (0.995 m2)
Heating surface: Tubes	815.5 sq ft (75.76 m2)
Heating surface: Firebox	74.75 sq ft (6.945 m2)
Heating surface: Total	890.25 sq ft (82.707 m2)
Cylinders	Two, outside
Cylinder size	16 in × 20 in (406 mm × 508 mm)
Tractive effort	14,835 lbf (65.99 kN)
Career	Great Western Railway
Power class	Unclassed
Number	1361–1365
Axle load class	Unclassed
Withdrawn	1961–1962
Disposition	One preserved, four scrapped

The 1361 Class were small 0-6-0ST steam locomotives built by the Great Western Railway at their Swindon railway works, England, mainly for shunting in docks and other sidings where track curvature was too tight for large locomotives.

History

1364 at Plymouth Dock 1948. Note the dent in the cylinder cover

The 1361 Class were designed by Harold Holcroft, the Great Western Railway's Chief Draughtsman, by adapting the 1392 Class, originally built in 1874 for the Cornwall Minerals Railway, to conform to George Jackson Churchward's standardisation policy (Churchward was the Chief Mechanical Engineer). As such they combined unusual and outdated elements, such as saddle tanks and Allan valve gear, with current Great Western details such as the cab (almost identical to the cabs on the GWR 2301 Class). By 1910 the railway was busy converting all its old saddle tank locomotives to carry pannier tanks. The 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) wheelbase allowed them to negotiate 2 chains (132 ft; 40 m) radius curves, a feature necessary for their intended duties in docks and on lightly laid branch lines.

The five locomotives were built at Swindon in 1910 and were set to work alongside the ex-Cornwall Minerals Railway locomotives. Their usual home was Plymouth Millbay, Devon, (later Laira shed) from where they worked in Millbay Docks and on the Sutton Harbour branch. Until 1928 some of the locomotives could also be found at St Blazey engine shed, Cornwall, where they worked on ex-Cornwall Minerals Railway branches, and also at Moorswater for working the Looe branch.

In 1920 one locomotive was transferred to Newton Abbot, Devon, for shunting the railway workshops there, a duty that was to continue until 1952. Other allocations were Taunton (1953–1961) for working at Bridgwater, Somerset, (again, mainly in the town's docks), and Swindon (1956–1961). One was tried briefly on the Weymouth Harbour Tramway in 1949, and another went to St Philips Marsh, Bristol in 1962.

The same basic design was used for the six 1366 Class locomotives built in 1934, but this time they were fitted with pannier tanks and more modern cabs. When the 1361s were withdrawn their remaining duties were given to D2000 diesel shunters.

Locomotives

Number	Built	Withdrawn	Notes
1361	1910	1961
1362	1910	1961
1363	1910	1962	Preserved at Didcot Railway Centre, currently under overhaul
1364	1910	1961
1365	1910	1962

References

• Aves, W.A.T. (1998). "The Pre-1923 GWR Pannier and Saddle Tank Locomotives". Locomotives Illustrated (RAS Publishing) (118). ISSN 0307-1804. 
• Coleford, I.C. (2007). "Swindon's saddle tanks - the GWR's 1361 class 0-6-0STs". Railway Bylines (Irwell Press) 12 (6): 252–263. ISSN 1360-2098. 
• Whitehurst, Brian (1973). Great Western engines, names, numbers, types, classes: 1940 to preservation. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Company. pp. 17, 102, 126. ISBN 0-902888-21-8. OCLC 815661. 

External links

• http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_060_1361.htm