GWR Banking Class

GWR Banking Class
Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Daniel Gooch Builder Great Western Railway (4) Stothert and Slaughter (1) Build date 1846–1854 Total produced 5
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 0-6-0ST Gauge 7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) Driver dia. 5 ft 0 in (1,524 mm) Wheelbase 16 ft 2+1⁄4 in (4.93 m) Cylinder size 17 in × 14 in (432 mm × 356 mm)
Career Operators Great Western Railway, South Devon Railway Company Class Banking Number in class 5 Withdrawn 1865–1889 Disposition All scrapped

The Banking Class were five 0-6-0ST Brunel gauge steam locomotives for assisting ("banking") trains up inclines on the Great Western Railway. Designed by Daniel Gooch, they were tank engine versions of his Standard Goods class, and mainly built at Swindon Works.

The last one was withdrawn in 1889.

Locomotives

• Avalanche (1846–1865)

Built in February 1846 and ceasing work in August 1865, Avalanche was not part of the Swindon-built Standard Goods locomotive build, but instead it was built by the Stothert and Slaughter and was similar to the Caesar class tender goods engines.

• Bithon (1854–1871)
• Iago (1852–1881)
• Juno (1852–1889)

Juno was sold to the South Devon Railway in June 1872, where it was renamed Stromboli. It returned to the GWR upon absorption of the SDR in 1876, when it was given the number 2138 but retained its Stromboli name. It was the last survivor, being withdrawn in June 1889.

• Plato (1854–1883)

References

• Reed, P. J. T. (February 1953). White, D. E. (ed.). The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway, Part 2: Broad Gauge. Kenilworth: RCTS. pp. B20, B24. ISBN 0-901115-32-0.
• Waters, Laurence (1999). The Great Western Broad Gauge. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0-7110-2634-3 – via Archive.org.