A MISCELLANY OF 0-6-0s

Before the 1923 Grouping, the 0-6-0 wheel arrangement was almost certainly the most popular in the British Isles. Most freight trains had one (or two) 0-6-0s at the front and many of them were also employed on lesser passenger workings. They were the Midland Railway’s only six-coupled locos and, after the Grouping, the GWR, SR, LMSR and LNER continued to build them into the 1940s.

Following Nationalisation in 1948, BR inherited no fewer than 4,259 0-6-0 tender locomotives, their origins dating from 1868 to the 1940s. Indeed, the last two ‘Collett Goods’ 0-6-0s, of 1930 design, were completed at Swindon in 1948 under BR Western Region auspices.

Since the First World War, the only GWR locos built specifically for freight haulage were 2-8-0s for long-distance main line duty and powerful eight-coupled tank engines for heavy mineral work in the South Wales valleys. This had created a vacuum for branch line freight and other less arduous duties, a need becoming more urgent as life-expired ‘Dean Goods’ and other pre-Grouping 0-6-0s were retired. Hence the ‘Collett Goods’, officially the ‘2251’ class.

Despite the soubriquet, the ‘Collett Goods’ 0-6-0s were mixed-traffic locos, but in terms of route availability the GWR designated them ‘Yellow’, restricting their sphere of activity compared with that of the ‘Uncoloured’ ‘Dean Goods’. With Swindon Standard No. 10 tapered boilers and side-window cabs they looked more modern than their predecessors, and most had tenders to match, namely the Collett 3,000-gallon intermediate type with continuous fenders. The Churchward 3,500-gallon low-sided type was also used, while Nos. 2281-6 ran for some time with tenders from ROD 2-8-0s. Loaded, these weighed 47tons 14cwt, against the 43tons 8cwt of the loco: a case, perhaps, of the tail wagging the dog.

Windswept

Numbered 2200-99 and 3200-19, the ‘Collett Goods’ saw passenger service over much of the