The Great Western Railway Swindon Class were 14 broad gauge 0-6-0 locomotives built for goods train work. The first entered service in 1866 and the last was withdrawn in 1892. They were sold to the Bristol and Exeter Railway in the 1870s but returned to the Great Western Railway in 1876 when the companies were amalgamated.
History The locomotives entered service between November 1865 and March 1866, and were withdrawn between June 1887 and the end of the GWR broad gauge in May 1892. The entire class was sold to the Bristol and Exeter Railway between July 1872 and September 1874 and were numbered 96-109, but returned to the GWR when that railway and the B&ER amalgamated on 1 January 1876. The locomotives were then renumbered 2077-2090; their names were not restored. The first locomotives was withdrawn in 1887 but one remained in service until the end of the broad gauge in 1892.
Locomotives + List of locomotives GWR Name Into service Sold to B&ER B&ER number 1876 GWR number Withdrawn Origin of name Bath 105 2086 Bath is a Georgian city east of Bristol which was reached by the Great Western Railway on 31 August 1840. Birmingham 103 2084 Birmingham, city in the Midlands, which was served by broad gauge trains from 1 October 1851. Bristol 101 2082 Bristol, the western terminus of the railway. Chester 98 2079 Chester never saw broad gauge trains but was served by the Great Western Railway from 1 September 1854 when it absorbed the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. Gloucester 102 2083 Gloucester was reached over the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway from Swindon on 12 March 1845. Hereford 97 2078 Hereford is an English city near the Welsh border, reached on 2 June 1855 by the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester Railway. London 100 2081 London, the city from where the railway started. Newport 106 2087 Newport is on the South Wales Railway which opened on 18 June 1850. Oxford 108 2089 Oxford, home to many universities, was served by a branch line from Didcot Junction from 12 June 1844. Reading 107 2088 Reading, a large town from London. Shrewsbury 96 2077 Shrewsbury never saw broad gauge trains but was served by the Great Western Railway from 1 September 1854 when it absorbed the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway.> Swindon 109 2090 Swindon, the town two-thirds of the way along the Great Western Railway, where the company built its workshops. Windsor 99 2080 Windsor is the seat of the Royal Family near London and was served by a branch line from Slough that opened on 8 October 1849. Wolverhampton 104 2085 Wolverhampton is in the Midlands and home to the Great Western's Northern Division workshops. It was served by broad gauge trains from 14 November 1854.
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