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.
Power type	Steam
Builder	GWR Swindon (10); R. Stephenson & Hawthorns (100); W. G. Bagnall (50); Yorkshire Engine Company (50)
Build date	1947–1956
Total produced	210
Configuration	0-6-0PT
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Driver diameter	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 (2.62 m)
Height	12 ft 5 1⁄2 in (3.80 m)
Axle load	19 tons 5 cwt (43,100 lb or 19.5 t) full
Locomotive weight	55 tons 7 cwt (124,000 lb or 56.2 t) full
Fuel type	Coal
Water capacity	1,300 imp gal (5,900 l; 1,600 US gal)
Boiler pressure	200 psi (1.38 MPa)
Firegrate area	17.40 sq ft (1.617 m2)
Heating surface: Tubes	1,245.7 sq ft (115.73 m2)
Heating surface: Firebox	101.7 sq ft (9.45 m2)
Heating surface: Total	1,347 sq ft (125.1 m2)
Cylinders	Two, inside
Cylinder size	17.5 × 24 in (445 × 610 mm)
Tractive effort	22,515 lbf (100.15 kN)
Career	Great Western Railway, British Railways
Class	9400 or 94XX
Power class	GWR: C; BR: 4F
Number	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Withdrawn	1959–1965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, 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

• 9400–9409 — Great Western, Swindon — 1947
• 9410–9459 — Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns — 1950
• 9460–9489 — Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns — 1950–1953
• 8400–8449 — W. G. Bagnall — 1949–1954
• 8450–8479 — Yorkshire Engine Company — 1949–1952
• 8480–8499 — Hudswell Clarke (subcontracted to Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns) — 1952
• 9490–9499 — Hunslet Engine Company (subcontracted to Yorkshire Engine Company) — 1954–1955
• 3400–3409 — Hunslet Engine Company (subcontracted to Yorkshire Engine Company) — 1955–1956

Preservation

Two have been preserved:

• 9400 at Swindon Steam Railway Museum
• 9466 at based at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre but does visit other railways from time to time. The locomotive is operational and mainline certificated.

See also

• GWR 0-6-0PT – list of classes of GWR 0-6-0 pannier tank, including table of preserved locomotives

References

• Russell, J. H. (1975). A Pictorial Record of Great Western Engines. 
• Whitehurst, Brian (1973). Great Western engines, names, numbers, types, classes: 1940 to preservation. Oxford Publishing. pp. 32, 70, 73–74, 82, 102, 158. ISBN 0-902888-21-8. OCLC 815661. 

Further reading

• Derry, Richard (2008). The Pannier Papers No.1 94XX 84XX 34XX. The Irwell Press. 

External links

• The Great Western Archive
• Website for preserved locomotive 9466
• Guide to GWR Pannier Tank Classes