GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Tyseley Shed: gwrt3901

Great Western Railway 0-6-0PT 57xx class Pannier Tank No 5739 outside Tyseley Engine Shed in 1931. Behind the locomotive are two 2-8-0 28xx class heavy freight locomotives, while beyond and above them is the Carriage Shed with a rake of clearstory coaches stabled in the sidings in front.

No 5739 was built by the North British Locomotive Company at their Queens Park Works (works No 23857) in March 1929 and their works plate can be seen on the leading wheel splasher. The Great Western Railway ordered (as lot 256) fifty 57xx class pannier tank locomotives from the North British Locomotive Company and subsequently a further two lots (264 and 274) both for twenty-five 57xx class locomotives. The Great Western Railway eventually had 863 of these 57xx class locomotives, of which 250 had been built by various external British locomotive works with money obtained from the Government's Development (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act of 1929. This Government scheme had been introduced to alleviate unemployment caused by the depression. The table below lists the first 300 locomotives of the 57xx class, including all those built by external companies:

Lot	GWR No	Quantity	Date	Builder	Builder’s Works Location	Works No
256	5700 - 5724	25	1929	North British Locomotive Co	Hyde Park Works, Glasgow	23818 - 23842
256	5725 - 5749	25	1929	North British Locomotive Co	Queens Park Works, Glasgow	23843 - 23867
258	5750 - 5779	30	1929	Great Western Railway	Swindon Works
260	5780 - 5799	20	1930	Great Western Railway	Swindon Works
262	6700 - 6724	25	1930	W.G. Bagnall	Castle Engine Works, Stafford	2381 - 2405
263	7700 - 7724	25	1930	Kerr Stuart	California Works, Stoke-on-Trent	4435 - 4459
264	7725 - 7749	25	1930	North British Locomotive Co	Queens Park Works, Glasgow	23921 - 23945
265	6725 - 6749	25	1931	Yorkshire Engine Co	Meadowhall Works, Sheffield	2249 - 2273
271	7775 - 7799	25	1931	Armstrong Whitworth	Scotswood Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1131 - 1155
272	8725 - 8749	25	1931	W.G. Bagnall	Castle Engine Works, Stafford	2422 - 2446
273	8700 - 8724	25	1931	Beyer Peacock & Co	Gorton Foundary, Manchester	6680 - 6704
274	7750 - 7774	25	1931	North British Locomotive Co	Queens Park Works, Glasgow	24038 - 24062

The 57xx class locomotives were designed as replacements for the numerous types of Victorian shunting tank locomotives, some of which had been absorbed from other Companies during the Grouping and which were now life-expired and becoming increasingly unreliable. Drawing on the best features of their predecessors, the design was updated to produce a more comfortable and efficient locomotive capable of undertaking both light freight and passenger turns, in addition to shunting. The belpaire boiler was not superheated, but the operating pressure of 200lbs gave a tractive effort (at 85%) of 22,515lb (Power Group – C). The pannier tanks held 1,200 gallons of water and the coal bunker had a capacity of 3tons, 6cwt. Loaded, the maximum axle weight was 16tons, 15cwt, which restricted the locomotive to most main routes and a few branch lines (Route colour – Blue), but this was changed to Yellow in 1950 after tests showed that these 57xx class locomotives had very little hammer blow.

Being primarily designed as shunting locomotives, the locomotives from lot 256 (including No 5739) were provided with vacuum and steam brakes, but were without Automatic Train Control (ATC) or steam heating facilities, so were not initially suitable for passenger duties. These features were later retrofitted to increase their versatility. No 5739 was initially allocated to Tyseley (TYS) in April 1929, before moving to various other sheds in the West Midlands, including Oxley, Stafford Road near Wolverhampton and Banbury. No 5739 was allocated to Chester Shed (84K) in December 1954 and withdrawn from there in August 1958.

Robert Ferris

back