A working life - No. 6695’s history with the GWR and BR

News item from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 5th Sept 2005.
Photographs are copyright Andrew P.M. Wright unless otherwise noted
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A rare photo of GWR 0-6-2T No. 6695 in service in 1964

During her time with the GWR and BR, the workhorse that is No. 6695 managed to clock up 620,596 miles - the equivalent of 25 times round the world or all the way to the moon and back!

"The Great Western Railway inherited many 0-6-2 locomotives from the various small South Wales railway companies on Grouping in 1923. Many of these were in poor condition and so it was decided to build new engines to replace them,” explained John Webb, membership secretary and public relations officer of the 6695 Locomotive Group.

That is how the 56XX class was born - designed by Charles B Collett, the Great Western Railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer. Between 1924 and 1928, 200 of the hardy locomotives were built.

For the technically minded, Nos.5600-6649 were built at Swindon Works in Wiltshire, with Nos.6650-6699 being built by Armstrong Whitworth at Newcastle-on-Tyne because of the pressure on Swindon.

"The class followed normal GWR practice. After 5699, the first number changed as there was already 5700 in existence, the first of the 57XX class. The first 100 locomotives were built to Collett's original design but the remainder had detail alterations and those built by Armstrong Whitworth inevitably varied from their Swindon cousins,” added John, a Blandford printer who lives in Wimborne and is a leading light of the town's Railway Society.

No.6695 was completed at Armstrong Whitworth's Newcastle works in October, 1928, and was given the works number 983. The locomotive was initially sent to Tyseley and then in April, 1929, to Leamington - hauling outer suburban passenger services from Birmingham's Snow Hill station to Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington. The 56XX class locomotives found themselves working down into Dorset and the seaside resort of Weymouth via the Westbury and Yeovil line.

September, 1934, saw No.6695 transferred to freight work at Oxley near Wolverhampton and then - as the ever-greying storm clouds of war were gathering over Europe - moved to Wolverhampton Stafford Road in February, 1938. But the Taffy Tank' did not stay there long and was transferred back to Oxley in January, 1939 - nine months before Britain declared war.

It was in September, 1939, that the locomotive was transferred to the home of the 56XX class - the South Wales valleys and Swansea East Dock. No.6695 spent an uneventful but highly productive war there until June, 1947, moving 'down the road' to Swansea Landore. Worked hard there on local passenger and freight work during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, No.6695 was moved to Neath in May, 1961. The locomotive made a small piece of history on 2nd November, 1962, when No.6695 hauled the last scheduled through passenger train from Neath General to Treherbert. History it may have been, but the 59 ton tank was not even cleaned for the occasion.

The Autumn of 1963 saw No.6695 transferred to her final shed - Cardiff Radyr - in October. The end was not long off. Christmas came and went, New Year came and went, Easter came and went - and No.6695 lingered on. The Summer of 1964 came and the chirpy tank was still working her heart out for the Western Region of BR. Then, in July, 1964, No.6695 worked its last train, its fire being thrown out when the crew got back to Cardiff Radyr - it was dead. The workhorse had clocked up 620,596 miles - the equivalent of 25 times round the world or to the moon and back!

GWR 0-6-2T No. 6695 at Herston Works in 1996

After lying discarded, the rusting hulk of No.6695 was purchased by the now famous Barry Island scrap merchant Dai Woodham in September, 1964. Rusting even more in the sea air, weeds growing between frames and wheels, No.6695 managed to escape the cutter's torch but other locomotives were not so lucky. The 1960s gave way to the 1970s and some of the rusting hulks started to disappear - for new lives on preserved railways. Then, in 1977 - the Queen's Silver Jubilee Year - a group of Swanage Railway volunteers decided to preserve No.6695 for eventual use on their fledgling railway which then only had a few panels of track laid. The reason that No.6695 was chosen, according to Nigel Clark - of the 6695 Locomotive Group - was that "the locomotive was one of the most complete engines available of Class 5 power which the new railway required.”

GWR 0-6-2T No. 6695 to Swanage May 1979

The 56XX Tank Fund was set up by a then teenage Nigel Clark with the objective of saving No.6695 for a new working life on the Swanage Railway. The rusting hulk was eventually bought on 28th September, 1977, by a Dorset businessman - No.6695 arriving at Swanage on a low-loader road transporter one sunny morning in May 1979, the 99th locomotive to leave Barry scrapyard.

To help the 6695 Locomotive Group either financially or with labour or engineering expertise, call John Webb on 01202 888707.

For the companion news item by Andrew Wright, "Taffy Tank No. 6695 returns in triumph to Swanage by Andrew Wright" please click here..