Adams G6 class 0-6-0T
| In 1893 William Adams had a requirement for additional motive
power in the form of yard shunters to supplement the railway's stock of
0-6-0Ts dating from 1881 and built by Beyer Peacock.
With works capacity available he was able to facilitate their construction within his own jurisdiction and so was born the largely unheralded but very successful G6 class in the form of just ten examples all of which were of entirely new construction. All 34 locos lasted into BR ownership and it says much for the solid design principles that three of the original batch survived to be amongst only eleven that eventually carried BR running numbers. |
| Nº261, depicted here in SR livery, was one of the first
batch of 10 locomotives and entered service in September 1894. In November 1948
she was one of the first to be withdrawn but still with a respectable 54 years
of service under her belt.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
 |
| Adams authorised the construction of four further examples
which entered service in October and November 1896. These were direct
replacements for B4 0-4-0Ts at Southampton Docks and provided greater coal and
water capacity as well as enhanced power.
Adams' successor, Drummond, was sufficiently impressed with the design to supplement the numbers with ten additions in 1897/8 followed by a further batch of ten examples in 1900. It was stated above that the first ten examples from Adams' time were all of completely original construction but that was not true of the remainder as all of them were built with boilers either intended for Beattie's well tanks or cascaded from withdrawn examples. |
 | With the sole exception of Reading the
G6 class members spent their entire lives on the former LSWR. Here Nº30238
was photographed at Guildford on 16th April 1952
photograph by Les Darbyshire |
| The class was afflicted by very little in the way of
rebuilding during its life-span. All were subsequently fitted with lipped
chimneys to replace the Adams stovepipes on the earlier examples and all were
gradually fitted with the vacuum break over a lengthy period. There were many
boiler changes involving the original, Beattie well tank types and also a
Drummond version of the O2 type which had proved to be unpopular with the Isle
of Wight loco crews.
Two of the class found their way into departmental service and both were allocated to Meldon Quarry. 30272 was so treated in June 1950 and became DS3152 whilst 30238 replaced her in the guise of DS682 in November 1960 some three months after the withdrawal of her sister engine. |
| In 1941, due to a shortage of suitable motive power, one G6 was
allocated to Reading and was subsequently ably assisted by a second example.
Nº30277 is depicted here at Reading South shed in 1958 and was one of
ten survivors at that time. photograph: Mike Morant collection |
 |
 |
Meldon shunter DS682 (ex-30238) photographed whilst at Eastleigh in 1963.
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
| This was a class of 34 very successful locomotives which led
unremarkable lives tucked away in goods yards on the former LSWR. Their forays
into passenger work were restricted to banking duties between the two main
stations at Exeter and even that privilege was withdrawn when they were
superseded by the Stroudley E1/R 0-6-2Ts in 1933.
It would seem that there were two styles of coupling rod fitted to this class. Photographic evidence would suggest the last nine engines had plain rods as opposed to the fluted rods fitted to the pr-1900 build engines. The first withdrawal was Nº348 in August 1948, which was the precursor of the mass withdrawal of a further 22 more by the end of 1951. The final survivor was the 64 years old 30238 which, remarkably, hung around until the very end of the 1962 cull of pre-grouping locos and met her demise in December of that year. For one of the early withdrawals it was not the end of a railway career. Nº30237, which was withdrawn in February 1949, had a further life in industrial use as Nº39 at the Redbourn Ironworks, Scunthorpe. Apparently when the locomotive was purchased by the ironworks the vacuum brake was removed and a Wakefield mechanical lubricator fitted, in which condition the locomotive gave another eleven year's service until 1960. |
| Additional text from Colin Hume, Mike Morant and Roger Norman. |
Technical Details
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| Locomotives listed in order of build |
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| LSWR & SR Nº 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 237 238 239 240 279 160 162 277 278 348 349 351 353 354 |
BR Nº 30257 # 30258 30259 # 30260 30261 # 30262 # 30263 # 30264 # 30265 # 30266 30267 # 30268 # 30269 # 30270 # 30271 # 30272 # # 30273 # 30274 30275 # 30276 30237 # 30238 # 30239 30240 # 30279 # 30160 30162 30277 30278 # 30348 # 30349 30351 # 30353 # 30354 # |
Built Jun 1894 Aug 1894 Sep 1894 Sep 1894 Sep 1894 Sep 1894 Oct 1894 Oct 1894 Oct 1894 Oct 1894 Oct 1896 Oct 1896 Oct 1896 Nov 1886 Dec 1897 Feb 1898 Feb 1898 Feb 1898 Feb 1898 Mar 1898 Sep 1898 Sep 1898 Sep 1898 Oct 1898 Nov 1898 Mar 1900 Apr 1900 Apr 1900 May 1900 Jun 1900 Jun 1900 Jun 1900 Jun 1900 Jun 1900 |
Withdrawn Feb 1949 Jul 1961 Feb 1951 Nov 1958 Nov 1948 Nov 1949 Sep 1949 Jan 1949 Aug 1949 Jun 1960 Jan 1949 Feb 1951 Oct 1949 Jan 1959 Sep 1948 Aug 1960 Mar 1949 Oct 1960 Oct 1960 Dec 1949 Feb 1949 # Nov 1960 Oct 1948 Jun 1950 Dec 1948 Apr 1959 May 1958 Nov 1961 Dec 1948 Aug 1948 Jul 1961 Feb 1949 Feb 1951 Nov 1949 |
| # Did not carry the BR number # 30272 taken into Service Stock as DS 3152 - shunted Meldon Quarry from 1949 # 30238 taken into Service Stock as DS 682 - shunted Meldon Quarry from 1960 # 30237 sold to Redbourn Ironworks, Scunthorpe and was in use there until 1960. |
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This page was last updated 8 February 2012
