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- The Taff Vale Railway A class was a class of 0-6-2T steam tank locomotives designed by J. Cameron for mixed traffic work and introduced to the Taff Vale Railway (TVR) in 1914. The A class was an enlarged version of the TVR O4 class designed by Tom Hurry Riches in 1907. The A class was the last new class of locomotive to be introduced on the TVR, which had introduced its first 0-6-2Ts in 1885 (the ); and, with a total of 58 built, was numerically the largest class of tank locomotive on the TVR. Previous classes of mixed-traffic 0-6-2T on the TVR (the M, , , , O1, O2, O3 and O4 classes) had used driving wheels of 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) or 4 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1.384 m) diameter; but the A class used the same diameter as the TVR's passenger 0-6-2T (U and U1 classes), i.e. 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m), and they were used mainly on passenger trains. The first 51 locomotives initially had boilers working at a pressure of 160 pounds per square inch (1,100 kPa), which (except for no. 120) was later altered to 175 psi (1,210 kPa); the last seven worked at the higher pressure from new. By the time that the TVR amalgamated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) at the start of 1922, only four (TVR nos. 3, 42, 52 and 120) still worked at the original pressure. All of the A class locomotives were rebuilt with taper boilers and superheaters by the GWR between 1924 and 1932; these also worked at 175 psi (1,210 kPa) at first. The pressure was raised to 200 psi (1,380 kPa) between 1930 and 1939; at the same time, the cylinder bore was reduced from 18+1⁄2 inches (470 mm) to 17+1⁄2 in (440 mm). All 58 passed to British Railways (BR) in 1948, until the introduction of the BR 82xxx 2-6-2Ts in the mid-1950s, these engines were widely used on passenger workings in the South Wales Valleys. After withdrawal, several were employed as Works Pilots in Swindon before being broken up. The first loco withdrawn was 344 in November 1952 from Cardiff Cathays shed. The last seven locos 370, 373, 381, 383, 390, 398 and 402 were withdrawn together in August 1957 from Abercynon shed. None are preserved. (en)
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