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 As such they combined unusual and outdated elements, such as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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