BR standard class 3 2-6-0
Encyclopedia
The BR Standard Class 3 2-6-0 was a class of mixed traffic steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

 designed by Robert Riddles
Robert Riddles
Robert Arthur "Robin" Riddles, CBE, MIMechE, MinstLE was a British locomotive engineer.-LNWR and LMS:Riddles was born in 1892 and entered the Crewe Works of the London and North Western Railway as a premium apprentice in 1909, completing his apprenticeship in 1913...

 for British Railways. It was essentially a hybrid design, the chassis being closely based on and sharing a number of parts with the LMS Ivatt Class 4
LMS Ivatt Class 4
The LMS Ivatt Class 4 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive primarily designed for medium freight work but also widely used on secondary passenger services. The London Midland and Scottish Railway built 162 of this type between 1947 and 1952, but only three were built by the LMS before...

, and having a boiler derived from a GWR
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 No.2 boiler as fitted to the GWR Large Prairie 2-6-2T
GWR 5101 Class
The GWR 5101 Class or Large Prairie was a class of 2-6-2T steam locomotives of the Great Western Railway. They were medium-sized tank engines used for suburban and local passenger services all over the Great Western Railway system...

 and 5600 Class 0-6-2T
GWR 5600 Class
The GWR 5600 Class is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive built between 1924 and 1928. They were designed by C.B Collett for the Great Western Railway , and were introduced into traffic in 1924. Two hundred locomotives were built and remained in service until withdrawn by British Railways between...

 tank engines.

Design details

The design and construction took place at the ex-GWR Swindon Works
Swindon Works
Swindon railway works were built by the Great Western Railway in 1841 in Swindon in the English county of Wiltshire.-History:In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of a railway between London and Bristol. Its Chief Engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.From 1836, Brunel had been buying...

, along with the 2-6-2T tank engine version of the class. Although the boiler shared flanged plates with the GWR No.2 boiler the barrel was shortened by  inches and a dome added. Strangely the class did not share the same design of wheels as the Doncaster
Doncaster Works
Doncaster railway works is in the town of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England.Always referred to as "the Plant", it was established by the Great Northern Railway in 1853, replacing the previous works in Boston and Peterborough...

-designed BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0
BR standard class 4 2-6-0
The BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles for British Railways . 115 locomotives were built.- Design and construction :...

 (76XXX), which also had 5 in 3 in (1,600.2 mm) driving wheels and the same piston stoke, and hence crank-pin throw.

In common with a number of the other BR Standard Classes, the chassis design used a number of LMS
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...

-designed components including Brake Hanger Brackets, Flexible Stretcher Brackets and Reversing Shaft Brackets.

The cylinder covers of engines as built were fitted with "screw-in" type pressure relief valves. From September 1955 revised cylinder covers were introduced for renewals incorporating "bolt-on" type pressure relief valves.

Although the chassis had many almost identical parts to the LMS Ivatt Class 4 the motion brackets were derived from the design of those fitted to the LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0
LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed for light mixed traffic.-Design:...

 and LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T
LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Ivatt Class 2 2-6-2T is a class of light 'mixed-traffic' steam locomotive introduced in 1946.- Background :...

.

Unlike a number of the larger BR Standards the exhaust steam manifold within the smokebox saddle was a steel fabrication that was part of the welded saddle. In a number of the large BR standards (BR Standard Class 6 and Class 7 engines) the exhaust steam manifold was a steel casting welded into the saddle during manufacture.

Service

Only 20 were built, numbers 77000–77019, all at Swindon Works
Swindon Works
Swindon railway works were built by the Great Western Railway in 1841 in Swindon in the English county of Wiltshire.-History:In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of a railway between London and Bristol. Its Chief Engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.From 1836, Brunel had been buying...

. Their operations were mainly restricted to the North Eastern
North Eastern Region of British Railways
The North Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. It was merged with the Eastern Region in 1967. It was the near direct post-nationalisation descendant of the North Eastern Railway, that had merged with the LNER just over 20 years early....

 and Scottish Regions, of British Railways, though 77014 was transferred to the Southern Region
Southern Region of British Railways
The Southern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992. The region covered south London, southern England and the south coast, including the busy commuter belt areas of Kent, Sussex...

 late in its life. Due to their small number, the class were the antithesis of 'standard' engines and it would probably have been better to build more 2-6-0
2-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Mogul...

s to the Standard Class 4
BR standard class 4 2-6-0
The BR Standard Class 4 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles for British Railways . 115 locomotives were built.- Design and construction :...

 and Standard Class 2
BR standard class 2 2-6-0
The BR Standard Class 2 2-6-0 is a class of steam locomotive, one of the British Railways Standard classes of the 1950s. They were physically the smallest of the Standard classes; 65 were built....

 designs instead. None has survived to preservation, though some components were saved from scrapyards for use on a project to build a new Standard Class 3 2-6-2T.

External links

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