GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Tyseley Shed: gwrt2400

GWR 2-6-2T 31xx Class No 3138 is seen approaching Tyseley station on a down local passenger working. The 31xx Class was a class of 2-6-2T side tank locomotive was developed from one of GJ Churchward's pioneer designs; the experimental No 99. The basic design was so sound that derivatives were built until the end of the company's life in 1948 and even beyond. Locomotive No 99 was produced in 1903 and given an extended trial over the next two years. Fitted with the standard number 2 boiler running at 200 psi, flat topped tanks and driving wheels of 5 feet 8 inches diameter, this was the genesis of two hundred and eighty-nine similar locos that were to follow. Thirty nine more examples were built to this initial design. This production batch differed from the prototype only in that the tank tops were sloping to aid visibility and the cab sides were incorporated into the tanks. The running numbers of this batch were No 3111 to No 3149 and the prototype was logically renumbered No 3100.

Photograph by Henry L Salmon

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