GWR 1361 Class

The 1361 Class were small 0-6-0ST steam locomotives built by the Great Western Railway at their Swindon railway works, England, mainly for shunting in docks and other sidings where track curvature was too tight for large locomotives.

History

The 1361 Class were designed by Harold Holcroft, the Great Western Railway's Chief Draughtsman, by adapting the 1392 Class, originally built in 1874 for the Cornwall Minerals Railway, to conform to George Jackson Churchward's standardisation policy (Churchward was the Chief Mechanical Engineer). As such they combined unusual and outdated elements, such as saddle tank and Allan valve gear, with current Great Western details such the cab. By 1910 the railway was busy converting all its old saddle tank locomotives to carry pannier tanks. The wheelbase allowed them to negotiate radius curves, a feature necessary for their intended duties in docks and on lightly laid branch lines.

The five locomotives were built at Swindon in 1910 and were set to work alongside the ex-Cornwall Minerals Railway locomotives. Their usual home was Plymouth Millbay, Devon, (later Laira shed) from where they worked in Millbay Docks and on the Sutton Harbour branch. Until 1928 some of the locomotives could also be found at St Blazey engine shed, Cornwall, where they worked on ex-Cornwall Minerals Railway branches, and also at Moorswater for working the Looe branch.

In 1920 one locomotive was transferred to Newton Abbot, Devon, for shunting the railway workshops...
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