NEW ‘W’ 2-6-0 TO USE 1948 TENDER?
GNR(I) vehicle could be a perfect match for a ‘Mogul’
A redundAnt tender which has lain derelict for more than 50 years could play a role in the railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s plans to build a Class W ‘Mogul’ (Sr462).
The former Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Type E 2,500-gallon tender, No. 43, was built at Dundalk Works in 1948 to run with Class U or UG 0-6-0s. It is one of four that survived the end of steam in the 1960s to be deployed as a noise barrier at Inchicore, shielding local residents from the din of diesel locomotives in the running shed. In the 1980s, two of the tenders - Nos. 43 and 73 - were acquired by the RPSI and sent to Mullingar, where the society had established a base in the old locomotive shed. Peter Scott of the RPSI locomotive department said: “Although No. 43 suffers from severe body corrosion in some areas, in general it is not in bad order, although the brass fittings are long gone and the condition of the axle bearings will not be known until it is dismantled. “This type of tender was in the later LMS configuration, and its wheelbase and overall dimensions are similar to the tenders that ran with the NCC ‘Moguls’. “Whatever use is made of it, we should recover it from Mullingar, and plans for this are under way. “It could be overhauled and form the basis of a ‘Mogul’ tender, which would be a more practical and cheaper option than constructing a new one from scratch.” The chassis of No. 73 was used to build a new tender for Class Q 4-4-0 No. 131, which is set to enter main line service this year once TPWS and OTMR safety equipment has been fitted.