Power type Steam Builder GWR Swindon Works Total produced 1 | Designer James Holden Build date 1901 Configuration 0-4-0 | |
The GWR 101 Class consisted of a single experimental 0-4-0 side-tank locomotive. It was built at GWR Swindon Works under the direction of William Dean’s Chief Engineer, James Holden in 1901.
Originally built as an oil-burning locomotive to demonstrate the economies of that technology. No. 101 employed a complex firebox and valve gear. It was intended for light passenger service on the Wrington Vale Light Railway near Bristol. However, due to technical issues associated with the design, the locomotive never saw the intended service. It remained at Swindon Works until 1905, at which time GWR rebuilt the locomotive as a conventional coal burning tank engine and used it as a works shunter. As a non-standard design the locomotive appears to have been withdrawn and scrapped in 1911.
Despite being a unique and short-lived loco, Hornby have been producing a very popular 00 scale model of 101 for some decades, in many prototypical and non-prototypical guises. The model is currently available (as of September 2015) in set R1180 'Postal Express' with two carriages and a loop of track; in the R2670 'Railroad GWR Freight' pack complete with three wagons; and in a fictional 'Rothery Industries' guise, cat no. R3359.