GWR 1901 Class

GWR 1901 Class

No. 1935 at Oxford Locomotive Depot 22 February 1953

Type and origin Power type Steam Designer George Armstrong Builder GWR Wolverhampton works Build date 1881-1895 Total produced 120

Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 0-6-0ST Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver dia. 4 ft 0 in (1.219 m) Wheelbase 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m) Fuel type Coal Cylinders two

Career Operators GWR

The GWR 1901 Class was a class of 120 small 0-6-0 saddle tank steam locomotives. Numbered 1901-2020, they were designed by George Armstrong (responsible to William Dean at Swindon) and built at the Wolverhampton railway works, England, of the Great Western Railway between 1881 and 1895. They had wheels of 4 ft 0 in (1.219 m) diameter and a coupled wheelbase of 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m).

The class was considered to be part of the very similar 850 Class after the latter was reboilered in the 1890s. The whole series was later rebuilt again as pannier tanks.

Forty-four locomotives survived into British Railways (BR) ownership in 1948. Their BR numbers were 992 and 1903-2019 (with gaps). BR called them 1901 class, including no. 992 which was from the 850 class. Only three GWR saddle tank locomotives survived into nationalisation. Of these two were from the 1901 class, Nos. 1925 and 2007, which were withdrawn in 1951 and 1949. The other was GWR 2021 Class No. 2048 which was rebuilt as a pannier tank locomotive shortly after nationalisation and scrapped in 1952.