GS&WR Class 101

File:Next stop, America! (12115019935).jpg

107 with unsuperheated boiler at Valencia about between 1901 and 1908

The GS&WR Class 101, classified as Class 101 or Class J15 by the Great Southern Railways, was a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotives designed for working goods traffic although they did, and were quite capable of, working branch and secondary passenger trains.Template:Sfn

History

The 101s were by far the most numerous class of locomotive (diesel or steam) ever to run in Ireland with 111Template:Efn being built between 1866 and 1903.Template:Sfn The great majority were built by the GS&WR at Inchicore Works, though the construction of some examples was contracted out to Beyer, Peacock & Company (12) and Sharp, Stewart & Company (8).Template:Sfn

The design is attributed to Alexander McDonnell, although evidence points to him developing the design from drawings supplied from Beyer, Peacock and Company of Manchester, England.Template:Sfn McDonell appears to have utilised the drawings and produced a number of hybrids where parts were salvaged from a number of withdrawn Template:Whyte locomotives from various builders; the class 101 Inchicore Works creating locomotives broadly to the Beyer Peacock design from the withdrawn locomotives.Template:Sfn The first three locomotives from Inchicore, Nos. 112 (June 1866), 113 (December 1866), and 118 (May 1867) are considered hybrids; recent analysis seems to indicate all nine Inchicore builds to No. 115 in October 1869 to be hybrid builds.Template:Sfn Eight Beyer Peacock built Class 101 were built between May 1867 and March 1868.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Inchicore built Nos. 155 and 156 with short wheelbases (Template:Convert less between the second and third axles, as per Nos. 114 and 115) in 1871 before commencing new builds of standard locomotives with No. 159 in September 1871.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Locomotive superintendents John Aspinall (1883), Henry Ivatt (1886), and Robert Coey (1896) continued to build the standard 101, with few modifications until Template:Circa 1899.Template:Sfn

The original locomotives had cylinder sizes of Template:Convert, a boiler pressure of Template:Convert giving a tractive effort of Template:Circa Template:Convert. Modifications to new builds and respective fitting to older locomotives used a cylinder size of Template:Convert with boilers which could be pressurized to Template:Convert achieving an increased tractive effort of Template:Circa Template:ConvertTemplate:Sfn

Coey followed this in 1902/03 with the final 12 locomotives that differed by having the enlarged Template:Convert boiler and a modified cab.Template:Sfn These were initially designated the 200 class but were brought into the 101 Class when rebuilds of earlier locomotives were equipped with the same boiler.Template:Sfn

In 1925 the GS&WR were amalgamated with other railway companies whose territories did not extend into Northern Ireland to form Great Southern Railways (GSR), the GS&WR and Inchicore Works being the dominant party in the new concern.Template:Sfn The 101 class generally kept to operating in the former GS&WR territory, the exception being the ex Dublin and South Eastern Railway area where the locomotive stock was in poor condition due to under investment, civil war losses, and the inadequacy of Canal Street Works.Template:Sfn Members of the 101 class (among others) were therefore drafted in to assist commuter and other services for the DSER.Template:Sfn

Locomotive superintendents Bazin and Harty in 1929 and 1934 introduced fifteen locomotives of the 700 (J15a)and 710 (J15b) classes which were in some respects direct developments of the 101 class.Template:Sfn They were in many ways little better, and the 710 class in particular somewhat worse, than the latest rebuilt versions of the 101 class with superheated belpaire boilers.Template:Sfn

D&BJR

In 1872 the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway (D&BJR) bought two Template:Whyte locomotives from Beyer Peacock that were identicalTemplate:Efn to those originally supplied to the GS&WR. On amalgamations these were to pass to the Northern Railway of Ireland in 1875 as Nos. 40 and 41 and before absorption into the Great Northern Railway in 1876, becoming designated Class "D". Reputed as "fine steaming engines" they were both given rebuilds Template:Circa 1888 and Template:Circa 1914 before being finally withdrawn in 1937 and 1934 respectively, the longest surviving D&BJR locomotives.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Services

The main purpose of the type was goods train work, however soon after introduction their ability of secondary and branch line passenger and freight train work.Template:Sfn From the turn of the twentieth century Coey and his successors introduced a number of locomotive types designed to be capable of handling heavier goods trains.Template:Sfn

The class is sometimes noted as handling "mainline expresses", this mostly refers to the type often being used as pilot engine to assist Dublin expresses out the steep gradients for the first few miles out of Template:Rws,Template:Sfn though an August 1936 report also noted use on Dublin on Template:Rws main line passenger services.Template:Sfn

Livery

As built the locomotives would likely have carried the a dark version of the lined olive green livery of the GS&WR until around the start of the 20th century.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn After that, they were black with red lining until the late 1910s, when they were painted all over unlined grey. This dull but all-encompassing livery included motion, wheels, inside frames, cabs, smoke boxes and chimneys. The only relieving feature was the red buffer beam. Standard cast number plates were also painted over grey, with rim and numerals picked out in cream or very pale grey, or occasionally not at all. This livery persisted post-1925 into Great Southern Railways days, and was extended to locomotives of other constituent companies after the GSR amalgamation of that date. On the formation of CIÉ in 1945, the only change was that the cast number plates were gradually removed and pale yellow numerals were painted on instead. In addition, most tenders received a lined pale green "flying snail" logo.

While CIÉ repainted a few locomotives in green or black, all of the J15 class remained grey until withdrawal.Template:Sfn

Preservation

Two have been preserved by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland,Template:Sfn Nos.184 (1880) and 186 (1879). Both locomotives are out of service awaiting overhauls, with No. 186 last operating in late 2013.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

No. 184

File:184, Whitehead.JPG

184, Whitehead

No. 184 has a smaller saturated boiler with round-topped firebox, and was paired with tender no. 156,Template:Sfn an Template:Convert outside-sprung tender. To give a larger water capacity, No. 184 has been paired with the larger tender from No. 186 when used on the Irish railway network.Template:Sfn

No. 186

File:Steam passing Drumbane Crossing - geograph.org.uk - 314482.jpg

No. 186 passing Drumbane Level Crossing on Northern Ireland Railways metals on a Railway Preservation Society of Ireland service on the Belfast-Dublin railway line.

No. 186, a Sharp, Stewart engine, has a superheated larger boiler with a Belpaire firebox and tender no. 375, a larger Template:Convert tender.Template:Sfn

• Class: J15
• Wheels: 0-6-0
• Company: Great Southern & Western Railway
• Designer: Alexander McDonnell
• Builder: Sharp, Stewart & Company, Atlas Works, Manchester (Works No. 2838)
• Dates: Built:1879; Withdrawn:1964
• Boiler: Z
• Boiler diameter: Template:Convert
• Cylinders: Template:Convert
• Tractive effort: Template:Convert
• Total weight: Template:Convert
• Axle load: Template:Convert

In film

The preserved locomotives have appeared in various films. Most recently, No. 186 appears in the 2006 film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley.Template:Sfn Both 184 and 186 appear in the 1979 film, The First Great Train Robbery.

References

Sources

• Template:ClementsMcMahon-GSR Locomotives