Power type Steam Builder GWR Total produced 20 | Designer William Dean Build date 1892-3 Configuration 2-4-0 | |
The 3232 Class, 20 2-4-0 locomotives designed by William Dean and built at Swindon Works for the Great Western Railway in 1892-3, were the GWR's last completely new 2-4-0 design. Their number series was 3232-3251.
Contents
Design
They resembled Dean's own 2201 Class and thus also Armstrong's 806 Class, though they had larger cylinders and a shorter wheelbase. All received Belpaire boilers in the course of the normal varied reboilerings.
Use
At the start of their careers these engines replaced their sister 2201s on Swindon-Weymouth trains, on South Wales expresses, and on fast North-to-West trains. Others were in the London and Reading areas, where others also moved when 4-4-0s displaced them from express working. A few went later to Machynlleth and Oswestry, where the last survivor was withdrawn in 1930.