GWR 9400 Class

The Great Western Railway (GWR) 9400 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, used for shunting and banking duties.

Great Western Railway 9400 class
9405 at Paddington in 1947
Type and origin
Power typeSteam
Builder
Order numberGWR 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 date1947–1956
Total produced210
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • Whyte0-6-0PT
 • UIC
  • C h2t (10)
  • C n2t (200)
Gauge4 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
Wheelbase15 ft 6 in (4.72 m)
Length33 ft 2 in (10.11 m) over buffers
Width8 ft 7 in (2.616 m)
Height12 ft 5 1⁄2 in (3.797 m)
Axle load19 long tons 5 cwt (43,100 lb or 19.6 t) (21.6 short tons) full
Loco weight55 long tons 7 cwt (124,000 lb or 56.2 t) (62.0 short tons) full
Fuel typeCoal
Water cap1,300 imp gal (5,900 l; 1,600 US gal)
Firebox:
 • Firegrate area		17.40 sq ft (1.617 m2)
Boiler pressure200 lbf/in2 (1.38 MPa)
Heating surface1,347 sq ft (125.1 m2)
 • Tubes1,245.7 sq ft (115.73 m2)
 • Firebox101.7 sq ft (9.45 m2)
CylindersTwo, inside
Cylinder size17 1⁄2 in × 24 in (444 mm × 610 mm)
Performance figures
Tractive effort22,515 lbf (100.15 kN)
Career
Operators
Class9400 or 94XX
Power class
  • GWR: C
  • BR: 4F
Numbers9400–9499, 8400–8499, 3400–3409
Axle load classGWR: Red
LocaleWestern Region
Withdrawn1959–1965
Preserved9400, 9466
DispositionTwo preserved, remainder scrapped

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[1]
Lot No.Fleet Nos.ManufacturerSerial Nos.DateNotes
3659400–9409Swindon Works—1947
3829410–9459Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns7547–75961950–1951
3839460–9489Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns7611–76401950–1953
3848400–8449W. G. Bagnall2910–29591949–1954
3858450–8479Yorkshire Engine Company2443–65/67–71/66/721949–1952
3868480–8499Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns7450–74691952under subcontract from Hudswell Clarke
3879490–9499Yorkshire Engine Company2544–25531954–1955under subcontract from Hunslet Engine Company
3873400–3409Yorkshire Engine Company2575–25841955–1956under subcontract from Hunslet Engine Company

No. 3409 was the last locomotive built for British mainline use by private contractors. It was ordered by GWR in December 1947 and delivered by Yorkshire Engine Company in October 1956.[2]

Operations
9474 ECS working into Paddington
8464 with a freight train

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.

Withdrawal

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 just four years and nine months later in May 1959.

Preservation
9466 at Tylseley

Two have been preserved:

GWR/BR No. TOPS No. Home base Notes Image
9400n/aSwindon Steam Railway MuseumPart of the National Railway Collection
946698466West Somerset RailwayThe 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[3], the locomotive was subsequently sold to JJP Holdings South West Ltd and will be based at the West Somerset Railway after a short return visit to the Mid-Norfolk Railway.[4]

Models

Lima produced a model of the class in 00 gauge between 1978 and 1985 also Graham Farish produced an 00 model in the 1960s. Graham Farish manufacture a model of the 94xx in N scale. Bachmann are producing a model of the 94xx in 00 scale, as of November 2015. The new 00 model is due to release in September with 4 options available.

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

References
  1. Whitehurst 1973, pp. 32, 70, 73–74.
  2. Atkins 1999, p. 51.
  3. "Home | 9466 Locomotive Group Website". 9466.co.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  4. "Mid-Norfolk Railway". www.mnr.org.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2019.

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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • 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.
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