GWR 2857 Heavy Goods Loco

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2857 approaching Highley
2857 climbing Eardington Bank

2857 in service

2857 is a GWRGreat Western Railway ChurchwardGeorge Jackson Churchward, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1902-1922 2800 Class locomotive, designed for heavy freight work and classified 8FThe British Railways system of classifying steam locomotives by power using a number from 0, least powerful, to 9, most powerful, followed by either F for freight, P for Passenger or MT for Mixed Traffic. by BRBritish Rail or British Railways.

It was built in 1918 at the GWRGreat Western Railway’s Swindon Works and delivered new to Salisbury GWRGreat Western Railway depot. During a working life of 45 years it was based in many depots around the GWRGreat Western Railway (and later British Railways Western Region), including a brief spell at nearby Stourbridge shed. The locomotive was withdrawn from Neath depot in April 1963 having recorded a total of 1,276,713 miles in service. It is fitted to a 3500 gallon tender.

2857 in preservation

2857 was purchased from Woodham Bros scrapyard in 1974 by The 2857 Society, and moved by rail from BarryWoodham Brothers Scrapyard, Barry, South Wales. The source of many locomotives now in preservation. to the Severn Valley Railway in convoy with CollettCharles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1922-1941 MogulLocomotive with a 2-6-0 wheel configuration 7325, arriving on 20th August 1975.

The locomotive was first steamed in preservation on 9th September 1979, minus cladding, and was steamed intermittently through 1980, without entering regularly in service. It finally entered service in August 1985, and worked until withdrawn for overhaul in December 1994 (1992 was spent on loan to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway).

Filming took place in October 2000 for an episode of the 2001 TV series “ Off the Rails” featuring Vince Henderson. The restoration of 2857 was one of the items featured, although the commentary referred to the locomotive as a pannier tank!

After overhaul, 2857 re-entered service in July 2011.

In 2014, 2857 recorded the highest annual mileage of any steam locomotive on the SVRSevern Valley Railway that year, being the only steam loco to travel over 10,000 miles on the railway.[1]


See Also

List of Steam Locomotives

References

  1. Severn Valley Railway News 189 (Spring 2015), p21

Links

The 2857 Society