GWR 9400 Class
British steam locomotive class (1947-1965)
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 9400 Class is a class of 0-6-0 PT 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.
01Design
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 9400s were numbered 9400-9499, 8400-8499 and 3400-3409. BR gave them the power classification 4F.
02Build details
| 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 steam 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.
03Operations
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 until the end of steam on the Western Region in 1965. A common sight on the departure side in 1964-1965 was a worn down 9400 Class locomotive without number plates waiting with a line of Mark 1 coaches.
Numbers 8400 to 8406 served as bank engines on the Lickey Incline after its transferral to the Western Region.
04Preservation
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. |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “GWR 9400 Class”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Paddington Hawksworth '9400' 0-6-0PT geograph-2954481-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg by Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Swindon 09 Works a new '9400' class 0-6-0PT geograph-2578519-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg by Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Old Oak Common Yard geograph-2574255-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg by Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Dunstall Park station, with Up goods including a dead engine geograph-2572669-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg by Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0
- 9466 Tyseley (1).jpg by Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0
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