GWR 9400 Class

Great Western Railway 9400 class
9405 at Paddington in 1947
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Frederick Hawksworth Builder Swindon Works (10) R. Stephenson & Hawthorns (100) W. G. Bagnall (50) Yorkshire Engine Company (50) 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: ​  • Whyte 0-6-0PT  • UIC 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: ​  • Grate area 17.40 sq ft (1.617 m2) Boiler GWR Standard No. 10 Boiler pressure 200 lbf/in2 (1.38 MPa) Heating surface: ​  • Firebox 101.7 sq ft (9.45 m2)  • Tubes 1,245.7 sq ft (115.73 m2)  • Total surface 1,347 sq ft (125.1 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 Great Western Railway British Railways Class 9400 or 94XX Power class GWR: C BR: 4F Numbers 9400–9499, 8400–8499, 3400–3409 Axle load class GWR: Red Locale Western Region Withdrawn 1959–1965 Preserved 9400, 9466 Disposition Two preserved, remainder scrapped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, with the oldest of the class, 9400 as part of the National Collection.

Design

Newly built 8432 in 1953.

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.

Build details

Table of orders and numbers

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, as well as the last steam locomotive built for British Railways to a pre-nationalisation design. It was ordered by GWR in December 1947 and delivered by Yorkshire Engine Company in October 1956.

Operations

9474 ECS working into Paddington

8464 with a freight train

The 9400 class migrated to most parts of the former GWR, with many based in South Wales and at Old Oak Common. Here they 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.

Preservation

9466 at Tyseley

Two have been preserved:

GWR/BR No.	TOPS No.	Home base	Notes	Image
9400	n/a	Swindon Steam Railway Museum	Part of the National Railway Collection
9466	98466	West Somerset Railway	The locomotive is operational and mainline certified. Frequent visitor to the Mid-Norfolk Railway, the Metropolitan Line and other lines running charters, including a special funeral train for its owner. Formerly based at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre privately owned by Dennis B Howells until his death in 2018, the locomotive was subsequently sold to JJP Holdings South West Ltd and was based at the West Somerset Railway after a short return visit to the Mid-Norfolk Railway. It was resident at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway where it was to remain until its boiler ticket expires at the end of 2025. It has since moved back to the West Somerset Railway in early 2022 following analysis of weight restrictions on the line which concluded that the locomotive was safe to operate on the line once again. It will operate on the West Somerset Railway until its boiler ticket expires in 2025.

See also

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

References

Sources

• Atkins, Philips (1999). The Golden Age of Steam Locomotive Building. Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers and the National Railway Museum. ISBN 0-906899-87-7. OCLC 468585665.
• Russell, J.H. (1975). A Pictorial Record of Great Western Engines.
• Whitehurst, Brian (1973). Great Western Engines, Names, Numbers, Types and Classes (1940 to Preservation). Oxford, UK: Oxford Publishing Company. pp. 32, 70, 73–74, 82, 102, 158. ISBN 978-0-9028-8821-0. 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