1366 GWR Collett 0-6-0PT

Power Classification	1F
Introduced	1934
Designer	Collett
Company	GWR
Weight	35t 15cwt
Driving Wheels	3ft 8ins
Boiler Pressure	165psi
Cylinders	Outside – 16in x 20in
Tractive Effort	16,320lbf
Valve Gear	Stephenson (slide valve)

When the old Cornwall Minerall Railway 1392 class needed replacement in 1934 an updated version of the 1361 class was built. The six locomotives in the class were built at Swindon were fitted with Belpaire boilers and pannier tanks.

They were to be found based at Swindon and docks such as Plymouth and Bridgewater. 1369 was known to be at Bath in 1961.In 1962 1367, 1368 and 1369 were replaced at Weymouth Docks by diesel shunters and moved Wadebridge shed to work the Wenford Bridge china clay branch in Cornwall to replace the Beattie Well tanks which were being withdrawn. They remained in service until 1964 when they were again replaced by diesels. The rest of the locomotives in this class were withdrawn in 1960.

Several locomotives fitted with steam heating apparatus and warning bells for working the Channel Isles boat train at Weymouth quay.

Three engines of the class were withdrawn in 1960/1 but those attached to the Wadebridge shed were not disposed of until 1964.

Preservation

1369

One member of the class has been preserved, number 1369 which was withdrawn from service at Wadebridge in November 1964.

BR motive power depot allocations.

Date Arrived	Depot
January 1948	Swindon
March 1960	Weymouth
July 1962	Wadebridge

1369 still carries the warning bell fitted for working on Weymouth quay in the early 1960s. This bell was stolen when thieves broke into the South Devon Railway’s Buckfastleigh headquarters in March 2014. The bell had been removed from the locomotive when it moved to Wadebridge to work the Wenford Bridge branch but was purchased by the South Devon Railway when it was put up for sale. The price of the bell at that time was £900 which is more than the £690 paid for the engine when it was bought from BR in 1964.

1369 steamed from Wadebridge to Totnes on 20th February 1965 having been bought for £690. It was moved to Buckfastleigh a couple of weeks later.

1369 was initially purchased with the aid of a private fund supervised by a quorum of joint DVRA (Dart Valley Railway Association) /GWS (Great Western Society) members and was handed over to the GWS on the Quay line in Totnes. On 9 October 1969 it was in steam coupled to the auto coach and gave rides to the public during one of the successful GWS open days.

It moved from the Quay line to Buckfastleigh on 2 April 1966 where in Spring 1966 it was steamed again.

It had become clear that the DVRA and GWS were to develop in their own distinctive ways and the two principal fund raisers, fearing the locomotive would move out of the West Country, negotiated its transfer to the DVLR (Dart Valley Light Railway) Company.

After many fraught years and a cost of over £40,000 1369 was not steamed again until 1996.

1369 was taken out of service in May 2017 at the South Devon Railway following the expiry of the boiler certificate.

The overhaul commenced shortly afterwards and it will include the fitting of new tanks to the locomotive. It is hope to have the locomotive back in service sometime in 2018.

By December 2018 it was reported that the overhaul was nearing completion with work on the bottom half completed. The overhaul of the boiler suffered a setback when it was discovered that the new set of tubes had been stamped with a material batch number which rendered them only fit for scrap. The problem being that the depth of the stamping which represented a fair percentage of the permitted wastage on tubes. The forecast date for completing the overhaul was amended to February 2019 but was subsequently changed to late September 2019.

In September the locomotive was steam tested in September 2019 and was back in traffic in October 2019.

From February 2022 until January 2023 the locomotive will be based on the Gwili Railway.