Colliery Lines

Coventry Colliery: misc_cc020

Ex-Barry Railway Class A 0-6-0 'Coventry No 5' is seen fresh out of the shops standing next to Coventry Colliery's main shaft. Chris Knowles-Thomas writes, 'One of a class of five, 'Coventry No 5' was built by Sharp Stewart as Barry Railway No 1 in November 1888 with 4ft 3in wheels. After grouping in 1923 when the Barry Railway became part of the enlarged Great Western Railway, it was re-numbered as GWR No 699 and was slightly Swindonised hence the GWR safety valve casing for instance. It was withdrawn April 1931 and sold in June 1932 to JF Wake, Darlington for Coltness Iron Co Ltd, New Mains Colliery. Then transferred 1933 to Warwickshire Coal Co Ltd (a subsidiary of CIC Ltd) when it became 'Coventry No 5'. It was withdrawn to be scrapped in March 1962 by JHB Jackson Ltd of Coventry'. Bill Armstrong added, 'This engine was the only member of her class to be altered (in 9/22) to any extent by the GWR, being fitted with a GWR pattern smokebox and parallel chimney; the Ross pop safety valves were later enclosed in a GWR pattern cover'.

Following a query from regarding the construction date of this locomotive, Malcolm Peakman advised, 'From Sharp Stewart's records, order E928 (based on order E922) was placed on April 12 1888, this was for five 0-6-0T locomotives for Barry Railway - serial numbers 3449 to 3453. Interestingly the initial order, E922, was for one locomotive for Ocean Collieries Ltd and was placed on Jan 11 1888 - serial number 3448. It should be noted that Sharps allocated serial numbers at time of building - not ordering, so this simply shows that they were built together - orders E923 to E927 comprised a total of 15 locos. Therefore serial number 3449 was built in 1888, and was among the first built at Glasgow after their move from Manchester (The first serial number applied after they moved to Glasgow was 3432)'.

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