- Port Talbot Railway 0-8-2T (Cooke)
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Port Talbolt Railway 0-8-2T (Cooke) Power type Steam Builder Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works, USA Build date 1899 Total produced 2 Configuration 0-8-2T Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Driver diameter 4 ft 4 in (1.321 m) Locomotive weight 75 long tons (76 t) Fuel type Coal Water capacity 2,000 imp gal (9,100 l; 2,400 US gal) Boiler pressure 180 psi (1,200 kPa) Cylinders Two, outside Cylinder size 19 × 24 in (480 × 610 mm) Valve gear Stephenson Tractive effort 25,490 lbf (113.4 kN) Career Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company » Great Western Railway Withdrawn 1928–1929 The Cooke 0-8-2T were two 0-8-2T steam tank locomotives built in 1899 for the Port Talbot Railway (PTR), south Wales. Their PTR numbers were 20 and 21 and they became Great Western Railway (GWR) nos. 1378 and 1379 in 1922.
The PTR obtained tenders from six British and three American companies and the winning tender was from the Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey, USA. Cooke's London agents were Thomas W. Ford & Company of Palace Chambers, 9 Bridge Street, Westminster.
The locomotives had bar frames (as was usual American practice) but, otherwise, they were of quite "British" appearance. Both were fitted with new taper boilers at the GWR's Swindon Works in 1908.
Contents
Performance
The locomotives were required to haul a train of 300 tons up a bank of 1 in 40 at 12 mph and 800 tons up a bank of 1 in 75 at 12 mph. Initially, the locomotives failed to meet these targets but, after some modifications, the required performances were achieved.
On coal trains, one 0-8-2T replaced a pair of 0-6-2Ts and this resulted in a significant saving in fuel and labour costs. Coal consumption was 65 lb per mile for a 0-8-2T compared with 94 lb per mile for a pair of 0-6-2Ts.
Further locomotives
The PTR had an option to buy three or five more locomotives from Cooke to the same design but it chose not to exercise this option. Instead, it bought three 0-8-2T from Sharp Stewart of Glasgow in 1901.
The two classes are easy to distinguish in photographs because, on the Cooke locomotives, the cylinders were dead horizontal and drove on the second axle, while on the Sharp Stewart locomotives they were slightly inclined and drove on the third axle.
See also
- Locomotives of the Great Western Railway
- Port Talbot Railway 0-8-2T (Sharp Stewart)
- Port Talbot Railway 0-6-2T (Stephenson)
References
- Railway Archive (Lydney, Gloucestershire: Lightmoor Press) (no. 4): 71–87. July 2003. ISSN 1477-5336.
- Casserley, H.C.; Johnston, S.W. (1966). Locomotives at the Grouping 4: Great Western Railway. Shepperton, Middlesex: Ian Allan Limited. p. 109.
Great Western Railway absorbed locomotives, 1922 onwards GWR Constituent CompaniesAlexandra (Newport and South Wales) Docks and Railway Barry Railway A · B · B1 · C · D · E · F · G · H · K · J · LCambrian Railways 89Cardiff Railway Rhymney Railway Taff Vale Railway GWR Subsidiary CompaniesBrecon and Merthyr Railway Burry Port and Gwendraeth Valley Railway Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway 28-29Gwendraeth Valleys Railway 26Llanelly and Mynydd Mawr Railway 312-969Midland and South Western Junction Railway Neath and Brecon Railway Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company 0-6-2T (Stephenson) · 0-8-2T (Cooke) · 0-8-2T (Sharp Stewart)Powlesland and Mason Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway 164-1310Swansea Harbour Trust South Wales Mineral Railway 817-818This steam locomotive-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.