4247 - “42xx” class tank locomotive. This engine, restored with the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, is normally based at Toddington.

Photograph copyright Paul Pearson, 2003

Wheel arrangement:

2-8-0T

Origin:

Great Western Railway

Introduced:

1910

Working weight:

82 tons

Water capacity

1,800 gallons

Purpose:

Heavy freight work, mainly in the South Wales coalfields.  No. 4247 spent much of its life handling china clay traffic in Cornwall.  165 of these engines, which were the only 2-8-0 tank locomotives to run in the UK, were built at Swindon.